


Splatoon: Old Hatreds

by Obliterwrite



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2020-10-19 05:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 48
Words: 327,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20651927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Obliterwrite/pseuds/Obliterwrite
Summary: DJ Octavio may be gone, but the Octarian army still carries his hate for the Inklings. Victoria is an Octoling in that army, but her recent trip to Inkopolis has made her rethink her view on the Inklings. As the Octarians start provoking the Inklings into a new war, Victoria finds herself forced to make a difficult a choice: stay with the Octarian army, or leave everything behind.





	1. The Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own Splatoon, only the OCs are mine.**

_This story is sort of a sequel to my previous Splatoon fanfic, which was orignally posted to FFnet. It takes place two months after Splatoon: Behind Enemy Lines, therefore it _ _includes the OCs introduced in that story and takes place _ _before the events of Splatoon 2 and , in case anyone has not and does not plan to read it I will make a summary of the events of that story at the end of this chapter.  
Just like with my previous story, I'm bringing the chapters over to this site without further editing of the story, though I will be removing or editing most of the author notes as they are outdated._

* * *

_ **Splatoon: Old Hatreds** _

_Octo Valley, the underground home of the Octarians, a vast underground city falling apart bit by bit. Without any Zapfish, the Octarians could not produce enough power to repair and maintain their city, everyday accidents happen, buildings crumble and sink, trains derail, fuses blow, all these things are common in Octo Valley. Tired of living in these conditions, young Octarians flock to the ranks of the Octarian army, one by one, some drawn by the thought of glory, some by hatred, and others for the survival of their race. Even after DJ Octavio's defeat another high ranking Octarian would take the helm, and another after that. Hatred for the Inklings corroded the hearts of many, someday they would rise up and make the Inklings suffer as they have, even if they go through every surface dweller to do so._

_But of course, not everyone thought this way._

* * *

**Part 1:Squidnapped (chapter 1-5)**

* * *

**Octo Valley**

The Nautilus base was Octo Valley's biggest and most well hidden base, it was here were DJ Octavio commanded his army, and now with him gone, command fell to the highest ranking Elite Octoling, Octavia.

Octavia had worked her way from the bottom to the top, she stood as second in command of the Octarian army, she looked not too different from any other Elite Octoling aside from being taller, but she was probably the deadliest Octoling in Octo Valley, physically fit, fast, accurate, and any other qualities that would make a great soldier.

"Acting leader!"

An Octotrooper ran up to Octavia holding a piece of paper.

"The recent report from the front"

She handed the report to Octavia, saluted her superior, then left.

This had gone on for a while now, they could have stormed Inkopolis before, but they missed their chance.

All because DJ Octavio was satisfied with simply retrieving the Zapfish, they should have just annihilated the whole Inkling race in their sleep. What good did sparing the Inklings do? All it did was give them a chance to strike back, dozens of Octarians fell, and all the Zapfish were stolen before they had a chance to be put to good use.

Now that annoying Cap'n Cuttlefish was quick to jump at the sight of danger, and whenever he did that he sealed off the manhole connecting to Inkopolis Plaza, taking the now imprisoned, DJ Octavio with him.

Thinking about it, Octavia grit her teeth in frustration.

Of course DJ Octavio wasn't her objective, she wasn't frustrated because of his capture, Octavia believed she could lead better than he ever could, he was old, always stuck to sneak attacks, and only stealing back the Zapfish. Octavia had a much better plan; the Inklings always managed to steal the Zapfish again each time they took them back, so instead why not just get rid of that whole pesky race all at once. The Octarian army may have lost the ability to power their Great Octoweapons but that wasn't necessary, they had three more advantages: a proper army, larger numbers and the ability to wake up early.

Yes this was desperate times, Octavio was too kind to the Inklings, always avoiding them instead of splatting them, the old DJ was too kind and only those in power could afford to be kind, and as much as Octavia hated to admit; the Octarians were no longer in power.

To reach the surface they had to get past Cap'n Cuttlefish, that old fart was faster than he looked, it didn't matter if it was a squad of Octotroopers or Octolings, every time they tried making a move he would notice and quickly block off the entrance to Inkopolis, with something that the Octarians could not break.

They had spent the first month trying to find out what that manhole cover was made of, but then someone suggested they switch back to DJ Octavio's stealthier tactics.

Octavia may not have liked Octavio's battle tactics but she had to admit that they did bear some success. Therefore they spent the last month observing Cap'n Cuttlefish, they would find every weakness he had, and once they did, they would exploit it.

Octavia sat in her office as she read the report, on her desk was a nameplate that read A.L Octavia. A.L stood for Acting Leader, a title never used before, Acting Leader meant that she was only leading in Octavio's absence, since the majority of the Octarian race had trusted Octavio so much, they believed Octavia was only a temporary leader until they managed to rescue Octavio, thus nobody went against Octavia for leadership, both out of fear and hope, hope that Octavia and Octavio could lead their race back to the surface, but in reality Octavia had no intention to rescue her former Leader.

Sure Acting Leader sounded like a silly title, but if Octavia went by something like; Leader, Empress, or Queen, other Octarians would get ideas, ideas like: "Hey that Octoling became leader so why can't I?" or "We can lead better than she can, lets all gang up and overthrow her!" Octo Valley was already in an awful state, a revolution was the last thing they needed.

Octavia silently read the report, it noted that Cap'n Cuttlefish only got distracted when he was busy eating, actually that was an understatement, Cuttlefish often got so distracted eating that DJ Octavio himself could slip away and probably capture him in the process if he tried.

'_You gotta be kidding me' _Octavia thought '_That old squid's weakness is FOOD?! Inklings are pathetic.' _You would think the Octarians could have noticed this earlier but Octavia didn't think about it, she read on.

'_So the Cap'n likes crabby cakes huh?' _Octavia immediately summoned the other Elites, it was time for some action.

* * *

**Nautilus base, mess hall, Octo Valley**

Unlike the Inklings, whose had no army and the one it did once have was less strict and mostly made up of trigger happy volunteers, the Octarians had proper military facilities to train, treat, and maintain their army.

Nautilus base was deep underground, to reach it one would need to go far beyond the area around the kettles, this is where Octavio trained and kept his army.

The troops here spent their days jogging, exercising, shooting and training, with hopes that they would see action sometime soon.

Of course not all Octarians wanted to go to war, some were content with where they were now, these were the ones who did not join the army, however even in the army, some Octarians did not want to see a war, one in particular wanted to prevent it as she had been to the other side, she knew some Inklings, and she knew that they weren't bad or evil, just as misled as the Octarians were.

"Another day of target practice and jogging." Victoria sighed, she was seated with several other Octarian soldiers, there were all types of Octarians here, Octotroopers, Octobombers, Octolings and even an Octostriker, together they were one of the many Octarian Splatoons.

"Hey don't worry, the Acting Leader has had scouts all over the manhole for the past month, they have to have found something by now" the Octotrooper to her right said

He probably thought Victoria was bored because they had been doing nothing except training everyday.

In reality she was worried, the trooper was right, Octavia must have found out something by now, only problem is that Octavia constantly kept more important information to the ranks of the Elites, so there was no way she could know if war was imminent.

'_The elites….' _There was a time when Victoria dreamt of being one of those elites, skilled warriors, with jet black tentacles, wearing seaweed, with the fastest reactions and toughest training in the whole army.

But that was before, before she actually went on a mission and ended up wandering behind enemy lines, without even noticing.

'_How could someone like me ever be like them?'_

Not that it was a bad thing, the Elites often had to do dirtier jobs, such as making rebellious sea creatures "disappear" or "advanced" interrogation of prisoners, Victoria hoped she never had to do anything like that. Why? Well she had spent a good week or so in Inkopolis, and with Agent 3 of all squids, not only that but she got to know quite a few squids from Inkopolis, what would happen if one of them were captured? Would she torture her own friends? Actually were they even friends?

Victoria remembered what happened after she returned to Octo Valley, she was decked out in Inkling clothing, and even had a squid phone, it made everyone suspicious, the army questioned her over and over about what she did and who she met in Inkopolis, for her own safety she kept most things a secret and only told them about Inker, or as he was known to the army: Agent 3. Victoria had undergone a series of medical and psychological tests before being allowed back home, and a few more weeks had passed before she was allowed back into the army.

Now Victoria was back in the Cephalo Splatoon, waiting for the day the Octarians can finally rise up to the surface and "_eradicate the Inklings…."_

What had previously been a great dream was now an event she hoped would never happen, at least partially, Octo Valley was still in ruin, and she wanted to see her people rise to glory, but at the same time she couldn't imagine pulling the trigger on a bunch of Inklings, at least not anymore, not after learning that they weren't the vicious murderers the high ranking Octarians claimed they were.

"Maybe I should find a new job." Victoria accidently said aloud.

Her voice faded with the sounds of a dozen other conversations in the mess hall, only the two Octarians sitting closest to her heard what she said.

"Don't give up yet!" a large Octostriker said, giving her a pat on the back "We need to be ready, Octavia can't rely on the Elites forever."

"Shh, Kevin, you are supposed to call her Acting Leader, remember?" the Octotrooper to Victoria's right said.

"Oh right, I forgot about Octavia's title.."

"Be careful, you don't want the Elites to hear you say that name, you'd be punished for disrespect."

"Honestly, it feels like the Elites get to do everything around here." Victoria said

"Can't blame them, they can fight way better than I ever could, and without the use of a hovercraft too."

"Yeah but that is because you were born different, don't you think you are capable of something more?" the Octostriker said

"Nah, im fine with where I am now."

That was the mentality of nearly every Octarian soldier after a few months of service: 'no need to get ideas, just go with the flow and serve your people.'

Victoria wasn't like that, she always wanted to move up, but her experience in Inkopolis made her rethink that goal, now she had no idea whose side she should take if a war breaks out again, therefore she wanted to avoid it at all costs, unlike many other Octarians who still wanted revenge on the Inklings.

Hopefully she wasn't the only one in Octo Valley who wanted peace…

* * *

**Victoria's home, Undercity, Octo Valley,**

If Inkopolis had an Octarian counterpart this was it, the Undercity is the largest Octarian city in Octo Valley, and currently the only one safe enough to live in, of course by Octarian standards nowadays safe would not be the appropriate word.

In the Undercity, Victoria shared a small apartment with her roommate Violet, an Octoling with purple tentacles as only Octarians who had served in, or supported the army had dark red tentacles.

"Welcome back!"

Victoria was greeted by Violet, who was busy with dinner.

"How was your day?"

"Another bunch of military exercises, how were things on your end?"

"A bridge collapsed today, luckily only three people died and ten were hurt this time."

To other people this would not seem lucky, but to the Octarians it was. Octo Valley has been in a state of disrepair without the energy of the Zapfish, everyday it gets worse, buildings collapse, trains derail, blackouts happen, in fact someone would die almost every day in Octo Valley. At this point nobody really cared about deaths, unless they knew the one who died, but even they could only suck it up mourn a bit and keep living, this was life in Octo Valley.

Violet worked as a first responder to emergencies such as this, the hovercrafts used by the Octotroopers were also used like stretchers to quickly transport wounded Octarians to hospitals, of course they were bigger and faster. Violet was one of many who would rush to the scene and try to rescue whoever she could, in a scene she was basically a paramedic.

"_Someone always has to suffer as long as others are living in comfort, that's the way of nature, we can't go against it, we can only help to the best of our ability."_ That was the reason Violet gave to doing her job, in the past Victoria dismissed it as a coward's excuse to avoid joining the army, nowadays she was beginning to understand what she meant; if the Octarians were to take the Zapfish, then Inkopolis would become Octo Valley, and vice versa, Victoria could not bring this fate to the Inklings who were so nice to her, therefore she decided to bear with whatever dangers Octo Valley held.

As the two Octolings sat down at the dinner table as all the lights went out, since Octo Valley was underground the whole city was plunged into darkness.

"Another blackout." Victoria sighed

"Second one this week"

Outside there were Octarians gathering in the middle of the street, holding tentacles they made a large circle.

"Come on let's join them!" Violet said

"Shouldn't we eat first?"

"Nah the food is still hot, this won't take long."

Violet and Victoria left the apartment and joined the dozens of Octarians outside

This was a common thing to do in Octo Valley, blackouts were serious in Octo valley since no sunlight reached here, a blackout meant the whole city would go dark, whenever it happened, all the Octarians would bunch up together and chant their fears away.

"Blackout! Back out!"

This went on until the power came back, all the Octarians then returned to their respective homes.

This was life in Octo Valley, it may not be clean, safe, or pretty, but everyone was friendly to one another, and they all had the same wish; to make Octo Valley a good place to live.

Yes they all had the same wish, just different resolves.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

"I can't believe I forgot a whole basket of Crabby Cakes outside my shack!' Cuttlefish said as he popped another Crabby Cake into his mouth.

In reality he did not forget any Crabby Cake, the ones in question were left there by a sneaky Elite, why didn't said elite just run to the manhole if she could sneak up to Cuttlefish's shack? Well it was obvious, the manhole was in plain sight on both sides, so it would be safer if she only left the Crabby Cakes at Cuttlefish's shack first, then returned with a splatoon or so.

That was exactly what happened; as Cuttlefish happily munched away at the Octarian made Crabby Cakes, four Elite Octolings made their way into Inkopolis, ignoring the snowglobe containing DJ Octavio, who was silently trying to get their attention.

Meanwhile in a mission control room in the Nautilus base was four pink dots on an old screen, one by one they disappeared, meaning that the troops they represented were no longer in Octo Valley.

"Ma'am, the team has penetrated into enemy territory, we begin radio silence now."

Octavia watched as all four dots disappeared, that was phase one of their plan, phase two would be carried out in sixteen hours.

"Ma'am, if you don't mind me asking, what is the purpose of abducting Inklings?"

Octavia turned and looked at the Elite with a face that would intimidate even the toughest soldier.

"Two reasons, for bait and morale."

* * *

**Inkopolis Tower, the next day**

As always Inkopolis Tower was filling young and fresh Inklings, each one of them dressed in different clothes and holding different gear.

Inker, Kal, Neon and Sky were amongst these Inklings, they entered Inkopolis Tower for a round of Turf Wars

"Whooohooo another great day for turf!" Neon said happily as she and her friends prepared for a match.

She was a neon green Inkling who was always full of energy, she also loved Turf Wars more than anything since to her, fighting with ink and weapons was the most exciting thing there was.

Neon had previously used a Splatterscope but now it was replaced by a custom E-liter 3k, which she gripped excitedly as the teams were being made.

Beside her was Inker, a blue Inkling boy holding a Splattershot Pro. Unbeknowst to the rest of the world Inker was secretly Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon it had previously been a secret to even his friends, until two months ago.

Inker was followed by Kalus, or Kal as everyone called him; a red Inkling boy. He and Inker were friends since they were squids in kindergarden, the two were best friends and they know each other better than anyone else. Unlike the competetive Neon and experinced Inker, Kal was more casual when it came to Turf Wars, thus Kal liked to use all sorts of weapons, his last one had been a Slosher, but now he had a Heavy Splatling.

The last member of the group was Sky, the youngest of the group, he was a cyan colored Inkling who was usually quiet and calm, he was the lowest level of the group and used a Roller.

The Inklings changed color as the they were put into their respective teams.

"R.I.P you guys!" Neon laughed as she and Inker, the two better players were paired with two other Inklings, leaving Kal and Sky with two others.

"Hey, don't think we will give up just cause of the teams!" Kal responded

Of course Inker and Neon were undoubtedly the better of the four, so Kal and Sky facing off against them would be a one sided match, unless they got lucky and their teammates were pros.

The teams popped up in Arowana Mall, and were greeted by a familiar view of a large shopping mall, signs with advertisements were on almost every wall,and the sky was filled with hot air balloons and blimps.

If one looked at a balloon through a scope they could probably see the spectators viewing the battles from above, these were mostly squids too young to participate, parents who were eager to see what their children could do, or just veterans who decided they were too old for Turf Wars, yet were still interested in the talent of others.

The countdown began, and in a few moments both teams were rushing across the map.

Sky charged ahead with his Roller, covering a large amount of turf behind him, his teammates followed.

Suddenly Sky was splatted by a shot out of nowhere, one of his teammates; a tough looking inkling with a Scoped E-Liter 3k attempted to fire back at Neon, who quickly changed position, heading to a new sniping spot.

Inker appeared from the left surprising Kal's team, he purposely ignored Kal and took out one of Kal's teammates.

"Spinning up!"

Kal set loose a barrage of ink from his Heavy Splatling as Inker retreated.

Kal gave chase but was then splatted by Neon.

He respawned on his side on the map, Sky was already ahead, Kal and two other Inklings swam after him.

The sniper on Kal's team found a sniping spot.

Kal and Sky managed to get the drop on Neon and she fell to Sky's roller, however her teammates came to her aid.

Sky was splatted once again, Kal took out one Inkling before swimming to his team's sniper for support.

Inker decided to go easy on his friend and didn't give chase.

This is when everything went wrong; Kal swam back to his teammate with the Charger, behind him was one of Neon and Inker's teammates, a girl chasing him down with an Aerospray.

When he got to his teammate he suddenly realised he wasn't standing in his team's ink color anymore, it was then when someone emerged behind him, he didn't even get the chance to turn around when something hard hit him in the back of the head.

Both the Inkling chasing Kal, and the one sniping met the same fate, they were taken away without even getting a glimpse of their attackers.

"Our window is almost up!" An Elite said to her squadmates

"I'll cover the ink, take the prisoners away" another one said, grabbing an Aerospray from on of the Inklings.

She quickly covered up the Octarians' ink before retreating.

Kal and two others were gone in ten seconds, and all evidence of Octarian involvement was gone in twenty.

Nobody noticed until later into the game.

"Where did Kal go?" Inker asked Neon, noticing that his friend was no longer on the enemy team.

"Hah, he probably rage quit or something." Neon replied

"Kal never rage quits, he doesn't even care if he wins or loses."

"There's a first time for everything right? Let's find him after we win this match!"

Inker quickly took out both Sky and his teammate, before moving to cover more ground.

"Hey one of our teammates left too."

"Who cares, they got two we got three, no way we are losing!"

Sure enough Neon and Inker's team won, with a huge difference too.

The Inklings reverted back to their normal colours as they exited the play area.

"Woomy! Another win for me!"

Neon was happy as always, even if they had an advantage.

Sky came running up to them.

"Did any of you see Kal?" he asked

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Inker replied

"Yeah, did he get mad and leave?" Neon asked

"No he just vanished without saying anything."

"That's strange."

The three exited Inkopolis Tower wondering what happened.

"Excuse me." came a voice from behind

It was one of the Inklings they had just played with, he looked about a year older then Inker and Neon, and he had light purple tentacles, he was also worried about something.

"Have any of you seen my sister? much shorter than me, same tentacle color, carrying an Aerospray, i'm worried, she seems to have left the match and now I can't find her."

Inker, Neon and Sky all shook their heads.

"We kinda have the same problem, did you see our friend here by any chance?" Inker said, showing a picture on his squid phone of the four of them and pointing at Kal.

"No, no I haven't"

"Maybe Kal went home?" Sky suggested

"Maybe"

"Probably"

"We should go check." Inker said waving good-bye to the other Inkling.

'_Still this is strange, Kal never quits a match, not only that but another Inkling went missing too.'_ Inker recalled the match they just had, four on each side, him, Neon, and two others versus Kal, Sky and two others.

'_When did he quit?'_ he wondered.

Inker barely remembered seeing Kal in Arowana Mall after the first minute.

'_How long was he in the match?'_

'Hey watch it!' Neon cried

Inker was lost in thought and bumped into her in his carelessness.

'Oops, my bad'

* * *

**Octo Valley, Nautilus base**

Back inside a dimly lit room, Elite Octolings each sat in front of a monitor, each one with a headset on, they were waiting for the team they sent to Inkopolis the other day.

An Octoling was communicating with someone through a headset, she nodded as whoever was on the other side reported back, she walked towards Octavia.

"We just dropped off more Crabby Cakes at Cuttlefish's shack, the team should be coming back anytime now."

"Excellent, i'll leave the rest to you, notify me once the team has returned." Octavia said

"Yes ma'am"

Octavia left the operations room and summoned another Elite Octoling, who came running up.

The Octoling stopped about four feet away from Octavia, stomped her feet together, and saluted Octavia, who did the same back.

"There will be an assembly for all members of the Octarian army in two hours, let everyone know."

After exchanging another salute the Octoling walked off.

Back in the operations room four dots appeared on the main screen, each Elite sitting in front of a monitor now saw live footage from their compatriots goggles.

Three of them held an Inkling each, the fourth held their gear.

The Four Elite Octolings quietly slipped past Cuttlefish, being unable to transform while holding hostages they broke into a sprint once they were out of earshot.

Then once they were out of sight they spoke.

"Mission accomplished, returning to base"

* * *

A/N: So I realized my last story left a lot of room for a sequel, and to be honest, I wasn't done with the characters yet I just wanted a break from writing stories for a while. Anyways here is the first chapter of a longer story, involving characters from both sides, just like before this is a Splatoon 1 story, so no Agent 4, or Off the Hook. The first chapter is going to be shorter than the rest, as I plan to average 5000 words per chapter, but needed to have less conversation and more explanation in the introductory chapter. I plan to release a new chapter once every one or two weeks, or until I get bored of this story, let's hope that never happens. Stay fresh!

* * *

For those who have not read my previous story this is what happened:

Victoria, an Octoling soldier on her first mission gets lost and wanders into Inkopolis causing a panic. Inkopolis is set on lockdown while Victoria goes into hiding as she believed the Inklings were an evil race. Victoria broke into Kal's house, and when Kal came back to see an Octoling in his home he called Inker a.k.a Agent 3 for help. Victoria is initially fearful of the infamous Agent 3, but to both her and Kal's surprise Inker decided to keep Victoria safe and help get her back to Octo Valley, as he wishes to someday develop peaceful relations between the two races. Due to the way both races seeing each other as the villain, Kal distrusts Victoria, and Victoria suspects an ulterior motive. Remembering her duties Victoria decides to try and steal the Great Zapfish, only to be stopped by Inker. Inker shows Kal and Victoria the 16th sunken scroll and explains that Octarians and Inklings weren't always at each other's throats, Kal believes Victoria tried to steal the Great Zapfish because of greed, but Victoria claims that it's the Inklings who are greedy and hog all the Zapfish to themselves while Octo Valley falls apart. Kal having never once thought that the Octarians needed Zapfish, feels bad for assuming that Victoria was evil, while Victoria feels bad for questioning and abusing Inker and Kal's kindness for her own gain. Victoria and Kal come to terms with each other, Victoria tells Kal of how dangerous Octo Valley has become, and Kal begins to feel sympathy for Victoria. Suddenly Neon shows up, Victoria had caused a lockdown which shut down Inkopolis Tower since Neon has nothing else to do aside from Turf Wars she decided to take matters into her own hands and investigate on her own, she believes getting rid of Victoria will end the lockdown so she prepares to splat Victoria but Kal blocks her, Inker and the other Agents arrive in time to protect Victoria, seeing so many Inklings defend an Octarian Neon gives up and tells Inker to hurry up and send Victoria back to Octo Valley. In the end Victoria is returned to Octo Valley despite increasing hostilities from the Octarian army, everyone returns to their normal lives while Kal and Victoria are left wondering if their two races can ever get along.


	2. Captured

**Inkopolis plaza**

The vast City of Inkopolis was filled with skyscrapers, some even surpassed the clouds, It was a busy city, Inklings everywhere went about doing their business, younger ones excitedly ran for Inkopolis tower, while some older squids calmly followed their everyday routines of work, and some toured the shops, looking, or at least hoping to make a good purchase.

Many of the buildings in Inkopolis Plaza had large screens which displayed all sorts of advertising, but every now and then, they would tune in to Inkopolis News Time, starring the two celebrities, none other than Callie, and her cousin Marie.

"Hold on to your tentacles…"

"It's Inkopolis news time!"

This was followed by a brief transition to Stage news.

"Let's unveil the current regular battle stages!"

Inker watched as Callie and Marie introduced the audience to Camp Triggerfish, followed by Mahi-Mahi resort, then the ranked battle stage: Blackbelly Skatepark.

Normally Inker and his friends would turn away from the screen once the stages were announced, but today was an exception.

They waited anxiously for the missing squids news, a subject that almost never came up in Inkopolis, in fact, this would be the first time in two years that Inkopolis news did a story on missing squids.

"Just yesterday three Inklings went missing?"

"That is definitely not normal."

Behind Callie and Marie, were pictures of the three missing squids: the first was Kal, which Inker, Neon and Sky immediately recognised since it was they who reported him missing, and gave them that picture, the second was a larger Inkling, probably eighteen or nineteen, he had orange tentacles and looked strong, the third was a young female Inkling with light purple tentacles, probably the one that other squid from yesterday was looking for.

"Authorities have found no trace of any of these young squids, all they know is that they disappeared at the same time in the same match."

"This is starting to sound like the plot to a movie."

"If anyone has any information please let authorities know right away!"

"Or talk to our Inkopolis news team, if you want a friendlier face."

"That will be all for now!"

"Stay fresh!" the squid sisters shouted in unison.

"Wait that was it?" Inker blurted out, he was expecting some more information, and not just: please contact authorities.

"I thought for sure they would have found something, are there really no clues left behind?" Sky wondered.

Neon shrugged "Hey if you want, I could take a look around." she joked

Sky gave her a look of disapproval

"Actually maybe you should." Inker said

"Huh?" Neon was surprised

"I'm serious! Remember a few months ago, you found the Octoling me and Kal were hiding, all by yourself and in a couples days time."

"Oh right, I think I did do that."

"You think?"

"Well I was half asleep at the time since I was so determined to get Inkopolis tower opened again, so I didn't sleep a wink those days, and I can't exactly remember what I did, heh." Neon said, scratching the back of her head.

They didn't notice it before, but just a few feet away from them was the light purple haired Inkling from yesterday.

Once he saw the news, he had buried his face in his hands and was silent for quite awhile.

Then he quietly began crying.

It was then Inker, Neon, and Sky noticed him, and remembered that he lost his sister yesterday.

"Are you alright?" Neon asked

The purple Inkling looked at Neon, and didn't say a word

"Don't worry" Inker said, "I'm sure they will find your sister, soon."

The pink inkling put his face back in his hands, he probably started crying again.

"Oh Lila, why did I make you start Turf Wars so early?"

Inker, Neon and Sky exchanged glances, '_What did he mean by, so early?'_

Inker gave him a pat on the back, "Don't beat yourself up, it's not your fault."

"Yes it is, she wasn't even supposed to be in Inkopolis Tower, why did I make her go? WHY?!"

"Calm down, you shouldn't lose hope so early, what's your name?"

"Laven"

"Don't worry Laven, they will find your sister, just believe."

"No you don't understand, she has never done anything on her own before, I told her it would be better if she got into Turf Wars early, now she's gone."

Inker, Neon, and Sky did not know how to comfort Laven.

"Excuse me, are you Inker, Neon, Sky, and Laven?" someone asked.

It was an adult Inkling, probably in his thirties, he wore formal looking blue clothes.

"Yes we are." Sky replied

"I'm Detective Vert, I would like to ask you a few questions regarding the whereabouts of your friends."

Neon and Sky looked confused

"Sure, why not?" Inker said

"Hey, what about you?" Vert asked the crying Laven "mind helping us out?"

"Okay…" he said

"Good, come this way please."

Vert led Inker, Neon, Sky, Laven and everyone else who played in yesterday's match to the nearby police station, where he would soon begin interrogating them.

* * *

**Octo Valley, Nautilus base**

"Why are we all gathered here?"

"What's going on?"

"Did you know anything about this?"

"What is this important announcement the acting leader has to make?"

Questions like these spread among the Octarian troops.

Of course, some were also making small talk, but since there were so many Octarians gathered in one place it was difficult to hear what anyone was saying.

Victoria was amongst the crowd, which was composed of every Octarian soldier currently on duty at Nautilus base.

"Hey look! Even the Octo Valley news crew is here!" one of Victoria's squadmates said.

Behind the large crowd there was indeed a news crew, their cameras were focused on a hastily set up stage, they were likely broadcasting all over Octo Valley.

'_It would be a shame if another blackout hit right about now.'_ Victoria thought

Acting leader Octavia stepped on stage and spoke into a microphone "Alright everyone, settle down."

The well disciplined troops stopped their chatter immediately, letting a brief silence fall upon the base.

Octavia then began her speech

"For too long have we been trapped here, we have suffered greatly at the hands of the Inklings and the other surface creatures. For years, our magnificent city has deteriorated, due to the Inklings' selfish decision to steal and hold every last Zapfish out of our reach. They stood by and watched as we suffered every day, we began to fear living in our own homes due to the state our city as fallen into, but soon we won't be the only ones living in fear."

Three Elite Octolings brought forth their captives, tossing them on stage by their tentacles.

'_Huh? Is that, Kalus?'_ Victoria wondered as she saw a red Inkling amongst the captives.

Kal had no idea where he was or what happened, last thing he remembered was playing Turf Wars in Arowana Mall.

Where was he? Why did his head hurt? What was all this noise he was hearing?

"The Inklings are afraid of an all out attack, but they have turned a blind eye from smaller groups, we will whisk away their citizens one by one! We will force them to come to us! And when they do we will all be ready, we will make them suffer as we have!"

The Octarian soldiers who blamed the Inklings for everything that has happened to Octo Valley begun cheering.

"Long live the Octarian race!"

"Down with the Inklings!"

"_Perfect, everything is going just as I had planned" _Octavia thought

She turned to the captives, the next thing to do would be to show that they had nothing to fear from the Inklings. There was a red Inkling of average proportions, a light purple Inkling who looked younger than the others, and the last, an orange Inkling who looked taller and stronger than your average Inkling, he was the perfect choice.

Octavia turned and drove her foot into the Orange Inkling's face.

Seeing this, the cheers from the crowd got even louder.

"YEAH!"

"PUNISH THEM!"

Hearing this the other Elites on stage began beating up the captives, stomping and kicking them all over the place.

It was as Octavia had planned, she would fuel the Octarian army's anger, then would be restless and eager to fight, then the moment the Inklings come to rescue their captives, the whole army would fight on without fear, it was effectively boosting the morale of the troops.

"The Inklings think they are safe hiding in Inkopolis but that is their biggest weakness, we can sneak into their precious city anytime we like, soon they will be forced to attack us, but we rule the underground not them, they will stand no chance, soon Inkopolis will be defenseless!"

Most of the soldiers were cheering now, Victoria however turned to leave, not wanting to hear anymore of this nonsense.

'_That idiot has left her initial victory get to her head.'_

Victoria had been to Inkopolis, and she knew things were very different there. For starters even if the army does manage to defeat Agents 1,2 and 3 they would still run into opposition, she saw that almost everyone in Inkopolis had access to some sort of weapon, and apparently they have some sort of combat training that they actually enjoyed. If the army invaded Inkopolis they would be fired upon from all directions.

Octavia kept on going, with her speech

"We will wash through Inkopolis as a crushing tide of magenta ink, we will descend like lighting from a cloudless sky! We will erupt from the ground like geysers in an open field!"

Victoria didn't hear what Octavia said after that, but it was probably some more propagandic seahorse manure, so she paid it no mind.

Instead she had other things to think about, most importantly what she should do now, Octavia seemed determined to restart the Great Turf War, actually no that was decades ago, this would be the second Great Turf War, and like with the first it wouldn't end well for the Octarians, at least not in her opinion.

'_What should I do now? Do I help my people, or repay my debt to Agent 3 and Kal?'_

The debt in question was probably from that incident a few months back, she had been sheltered from the less peaceful Inklings by Agent 3 and Kalus, ever since then she had seen the Inklings from a new light, but also felt that she had to repay them somehow.

'_The door to Inkopolis will always be open for you.'_ Kal's parting words to Victoria echoed in her head.

'_Then should I go warn Agent 3 and get him to rescue the captives?'_ Victoria thought '_But even if I did, how would he know where to go? Nautilus base is already deeper underground than any of the lairs he had previously been to, and I doubt Octavia plans on keeping any Inklings nearby.'_

Not only that but Victoria was well aware of the rumors surrounding Agent 3 that still circulated through the Octarian population, if any normal citizen saw Agent 3 they would likely be scared out of their wits, because DJ Octavio had painted him as a ruthless killer who gave no mercy, that way the soldiers saw him as a monster would have no trouble shooting him down in the name of justice.

Unfortunately Agent 3 ended up beating the Octarians he fought, since there were hardly any survivors of Agent 3's attacks more rumors surfaced, now most Octarians hoped they would never see that terrifying blue Inkling ever in their lives.

So what would happen if they saw him here? They would probably raise the alarm as fast as the could.

While silencing a few of her own fellow soldiers might have been okay, Victoria was not prepared to open fire on any civilian to keep them quiet, so if she did bring Agent 3 to the Undercity of Octo Valley she would need to keep him out of sight.

But then again this was Agent 3, he could probably find out about the captives on his own, with that in mind, Victoria decided to sit by for a while and see how everything played out.

* * *

**Precinct 15, Inkopolis**

While the Inklings had no proper army ever since the end of the Great Turf War, every city had some sort of law enforcement, however Inkopolis was peaceful city, and the only time anyone really had to be thrown in jail was for using counterfeit coins, or for cheating in a ranked match.

Due to the lack of severe cases such as squidnapping or homicide, one could say that the Inkopolis PD were inexperienced to say the least.

Another officer questioned the Inklings that Det. Vert had brought in, all while he and another officer exchanged opinions behind a one way screen.

Neon was first to be questioned

"So you were friends with one of the missing squids?"

"Yes I am."

"What were your feelings when you were put on the opposing team? Were you angry, or maybe sad perhaps?"

"Nah I didn't really mind."

"Excuse me? You didn't mind having to face off against your friend?"

"Of course not? It happens all the time in Turf Wars."

"Did you ever think about purposely losing a match because of this?"

"Nah."

"Really?"

"Of course not, who cares if it's a friend, a relative, or an enemy, I'm always giving it my best in Turf Wars, if I didn't I wouldn't be getting any better."

"So you are saying, in a turf war there is no sort of friendship or anything?"

"No, i'm saying it doesn't matter."

"Very well then, did you feel like you would lose the match at any given point."

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I'm better than Kal."

That was all Vert needed, he made a mental note of Neon's answers and emotions, next up was Inker.

"You are friends with with one of the missing squids am I correct?"

"Yes."

"And you were put on the opposing team right?"

"Yes."

"How did you take being put on opposing sides?"

"Well i'm fine with it really, it happens all the time."

"And you didn't feel the need to maybe do something to save face?"

"Well it wasn't a ranked match, so I just played for fun anyways, it doesn't matter if I won or lost."

"Is that so?"

Inker nodded

"Then please tell me, how long have you known your missing friend?"

"Well Kal and I are kinda childhood friends, we knew each other in elementary squid school, long before we could transform."

"Then you must know him very well."

"Yes"

"Does he seem like the type to run away from a losing match?"

"No, like me, Kal played that match for fun."

Next up, Laven, who was still feeling down.

"So your sister was one of the missing squids."

"Yes"

"I heard that you brought her to Inkopolis tower despite her not passing requirements, and that you even supplied her with your own gear for her first match."

"Yes, I was just a regular match, I didn't think it would be a problem."

"Normally that is enough for some sort of punishment, but right now there are more important matters, do you care for your sister's well being?"

"Yes, absolutely."

"Was she with you during the battle?"

"She was."

"Then why weren't you there with her when she left the match?"

"I got splatted by a Heavy Splatling, and by the time I respawned I couldn't find her."

"Then why didn't you leave the match immediately to go look for her?"

"I didn't want to let my teammates down, plus its not like her to wander off anywhere without me, so I assumed she would be waiting outside."

"You realize she could have been kicked out of the match if someone found out that she wasn't supposed to be there."

"Yes, but it was my encouragement that made her want to join a Turf War, so I'll take the blame for that." As Laven said that he began to tear up again.

"Do your parents know about this?"

"Yes."

The next one to be interrogated was a random Inkling they did not know, since she did not know anyone, her questioning was over quickly, finally is was Sky's turn.

"You were on the same team as two of the missing squids, how well did you know them?"

"Kalus, the one with the Heavy Splatling was one of my friends in that match, I didn't know the one with the Charger."

"When did you notice he was missing?"

"Shortly after respawning I noticed our Charger wasn't there anymore, I assumed that since Kal would have retreated to him that they both gotten splatted, so I waited at the spawn for a while but nobody came."

"How did you get to know Kal?"

"I met him and Inker after one of my matches when I was a beginner, unlike most people who just yells at beginners for being "bad" Inker gave tips and pointers on things that didn't involve a specific weapon, things like positioning, vantage points on certain maps, ways to tell where someone's blindspot was, I played with him a few times after that to use the skills he taught me, since Kal is his best friend I ended up knowing him as well."

Surprisingly that was all they wanted to ask Sky, the interrogator let him leave, then told the all the Inklings they were free to go now.

Meanwhile Det. Vert and the interrogator discussed what they had heard.

"What do you think? Do you suspect anyone?" the interrogator asked

"Well from how I see it, this wasn't something that just happened, it had to have been planned ahead of time, I mean three kids don't just disappear, what kind of connection can we find between the victims?"

"Nothing, they seem to have been taken at random."

"Well that's odd, I doubt such a well planned squidnapping would happen without a target."

"Maybe they were only after one of them, and the two others just got in the way."

"If that's true, one of those five we brought in had to be an accomplice."

"Or maybe the accomplice pretended to get captured too in order to get out safely."

"That's possible but I have two suspects already drawn out, Inker, the blue Inkling is ranked too high for someone who claims to play for fun, he has to have done a lot of practice somewhere before so I think he lied to us, then there is Laven the purple one who keeps crying over his sister, yet he didn't quit immediately to go find her."

"Is that really so odd?"

"Yes it is, if someone I knew left without saying anything I would to the same and find out why."

"Why would he squidnap his own sister though, I don't see any motive."

"Don't worry about that, sooner or later they will confess, I want an officer watching them for the next few days, and don't be subtle about it, I want them to feel IPD breathing down their necks."

"What about the others?"

"Ignore them, Grass didn't know enough to have done anything, Neon is too simple minded to be capable of something like this and Sky is too inexperienced and young."

(If anyone is wondering who Grass is, she is a random Inkling who happened to be in that match, and not important to the story)

Obviously the extreme lack of experience clouded Vert and the IPD's judgement.

* * *

Meanwhile, Inker, Neon and Sky had just left the precinct.

"Why are they questioning us of all people?" Neon asked

"Because it's the easiest place to start." Inker replied

"Or maybe they are following one of their theories and they already suspect someone." Sky added

"Yeah that's possible too, but I think they won't get to the bottom of this anytime soon." Inker said

"Huh? Why not?"

"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but the way it all happened; in the blink of an eye, no witnesses, and no evidence, it's similar to when the Octarians took the Great Zapfish."

"You should tell them that."

"No I shouldn't, the Cap'n told me that secrecy was a key element to the New Squidbeak Splatoon, plus the IPD are limited to operating in Inkopolis, so I doubt they can just waltz on into Octo Valley and start arresting Octarians."

Neon's eyes lit up, Inker was talking as if he knew the Octarians were behind the squidnappings "I'm getting the feeling you're about to go do something dangerous, and there will be alot of fighting involved, right?"

"No"

Neon frowned "aww, why not?"

"Because I just can't think of a reason for the Octarians to squidnap three absolutely random Inklings, maybe I should look into it more, dig a little deeper, maybe one of them has connections to someone important."

Sky went "Ahem" while looking at Inker, basically reminding him that since he played a huge role in Octavio's capture he could be the one they were trying to get too.

Inker dismissed his assumption "No way, all I did was retrieve the Zapfish and happened to run into Octavio along the way, plus I had help from everyone else in the New Squidbeak Splatoon, I doubt they would go after just me."

"Guess not."

Neon wasn't giving up the chance to enter a bigger battle yet, she had only been to Octo Valley once before, and it was awesome, a giant robot square thing attacked them and she sniped it's tentacle along with Marie, it was the most exciting moment of her life.

"Maybe you should go to Octo Valley and find out if they did squidnap those three."

"I don't want to do anything rash, I might even end up causing more friction between our races, so unless the Cap'n finds evidence that the Octarians have been in Inkopolis recently i'm not doing anything."

"You won't find any evidence sitting around either."

"I can't act on instinct."

"Why not? Sometimes to gotta act first, otherwise it will be too late."

"Wow somehow I didn't expect to hear that from you."

"Why not? I do it all the time."

"Guys" Sky cut in "Don't look now, but someone is watching us."

Indeed there was, an officer from the precinct was eyeing them from a distance.

Inker decided to stop talking about Octo Valley and the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

"Well then, what should we do now?"

"Probably get some real food, those seaweed sticks from the precinct vending machine tasted awful" Neon suggested

"I just got Squid Racer a few days ago, I haven't played it yet." Sky said

"We got time for both anyways, let's just try to lose this guy."

* * *

**Melanin prison, Octo Valley**

When one heard the word prison, they would think of some gloomy building where the scum of society resided in, a building that limited the freedom of some, to safeguard the safety of others.

Melanin prison got the gloomy part right at least, but this place hadn't seen use since the Great Turf War.

This was the place where the Octarians kept their P O Ws (prisoners of war, in case anyone didn't know) and since the last great war was a century ago nobody had bothered to maintain this building.

Many of its cell doors were rusted, the plumbing didn't work in some cells, and the lights flicked.

Despite this, Octavia had the maximum security area fixed up "Inklings should be kept in a prison made for Inklings." she said, thus one small part of this decaying building was crudely restored and stood out from the rest of the prison, with the rest of the prison awaiting further maintenance.

It was here where Kal and the two other captives were held, the only cell that was not rusted over, here they were thrown in by the Elites, their whole bodies in pain from the beating they received from the Elites, they didn't even move once they were thrown in, it was just too painful.

Somebody dropped something in the cell, but Kal didn't see who it was probably cause his eyes were closed; he had a pretty good idea of what happened to him now, but he didn't want to open his eyes and confirm his fears.

Yet it was undeniable, he may have heard someone speak his language but others spoke in another that he didn't recognize, the odd language he heard was definitely not Inkling, not only that but that speech, the whole thing about washing through Inkopolis,only the Octarians would say that, they were the only ones who were only taught the bad parts about Inklings, so only they could happily wish such painful things upon him like they did.

Maybe an hour passed, or maybe two, Kal didn't know, all he knew was that he was hungry and that he couldn't lie here forever.

Finally he opened his eyes and for the first time since he got here, he looked around and listened to what was happening, he was in a small room with two others, a large boy with orange tentacles was yelling at a big metal door, in another corner a small light purple haired girl was nibbling on seaweed.

Aside from a stall, a dumbwaiter and a sink, the plate of seaweed was the only thing in the room, still hungry, Kal reached for a piece.

It was stale, salty and hard, but Kal forced himself to eat it anyways as he had no other choice.

The large Inkling who had been yelling insults at the door came over.

"Good to see you're finally up, what's your name?" he asked

"Kalus, but my friends call me Kal."

"Well Kalus, my name is Bogs, I'd tell ya the name little girl over there but she seems to scared to talk right now, anyways down to business, I have been insulting the guards for probably half an hour now, they're going to be pissed and come in here, so we overpower them and get the heck out of here."

'_So that's why he was yelling at the door'_ Kal thought

Kal walked over to the door, there was a small window where he could barely see outside, all he saw was a hallway, and two Octotroopers guarding them.

Kal then remembered of Inker's stories as Agent 3.

"I don't think that will work, the Octotroopers can't understand our language."

"What! How would you know?"

"I umm, know someone who fought in the war, apparently the only ones who can understand our language are the Octolings."

"Who is that someone? Care to tell?"

It was obvious that Bogs wasn't exactly the trusting type, however Kal couldn't tell him about Inker, and even if he did, nobody would believe someone as young as he was fought against the Octarian army.

"Cap'n Cuttlefish of the Squidbeak Splatoon" Kal lied.

"Really" Bogs replied, it would seem that everyone had heard of the old Cap'n nowadays "I always thought the old squid was crazy."

Kal chuckled "He kinda is, but he does have experience."

"Well then how do you recognize these err Octolings huh?"

"It's simple actually, they look and talk like us, but they have different tentacles."

"Well then you can wait for someone like that, I'm gonna keep yelling at these short things."

"Seriously don't bother, they can't understand you."

"I'm not waiting for some special kind of Octarian to arrive to start breaking out."

"It's the only way your plan can have some chance of succeeding."

"You got a better idea?!"

"Nope"

"Then shut up and wait for the guards to come in."

_'What is with **this **guy.' _Kal thought to himself, already disliking Bogs

Meanwhile Kal noticed that the other Inkling, the purple one, had not said anything this whole time. However as soon as she felt any of them looking her way she would turn around, maybe she was shy, or maybe she was scared of them, maybe both.

Since Bogs was too fed up with his own plan, and the purple Inkling (who's name Kal did not know) was not ready to talk to anyone, Kal quietly went to his own little corner of the cell, he didn't know what time it was but he was getting tired, maybe it was night time outside? He didn't know.

Outside the cell, Kal's assumptions were right, the Octotroopers outside did not understand what Bogs was yelling at them, in fact Bogs' voice was blocked out by the door anyways, so they could not really hear him either, unless they turned on the two way communicator.

Luckily at night time there was a shift, two Octolings arrived to take the Octotroopers' spots

"We are we being replaced?" one Octotrooper asked

"Not exactly, the captain says that we need to be extra careful at night, so we will guard them now, you will return here in the morning." an Octoling explained

"Okay then."

The Octotroopers left, seemingly glad to have some rest, and the two Octolings took their spots.

"Hey Kalus." Bogs whispered

"Yeah?"

"Are those the Octolings you mentioned before?"

Kal peeked through the small bit of glass, there was indeed two Octolings guarding the cell now.

"Yes they are."

"Alright then" Bogs rubbed his hands together as he prepared another round of insults.

Because they were taller than the Octotroopers the Octolings easily saw through the glass, and thus they saw Bogs who seemed to be saying something.

"What an idiot, doesn't he know we can't hear him." one said

"I wonder what he's trying to say." her partner wondered

"Probably begging to be let out or something"

"That would be fun to hear."

"It would, turn on the two way, let's hear what he's saying."

One of the Octolings hit a button next to the cell, allowing Bogs' voice to come through.

"Cause you're too short, guess what i'm a real cop and not some guard, and I must say you guys' standards are really damn low, I mean come on, what is that stupid aluminum foil breastplate, are you a guard or a…."

The Octoling shut off the the two way, she knew exactly what he was planning, a slight grin crept to her face.

"Get the captain."

"Psst guys! I think it's working, one of them is leaving! They are getting someone to open the cell!"

Kal and the purple Inkling were both trying to sleep, but that was made impossible thanks to Bogs' constant yelling.

"Wake up you two!"

The purple Inkling shot straight out of bed, Kal yawned and slowly got up.

"Okay once they come in i'm charging right into them, Kal you watch my back, and whatever your name is" Bogs said, pointing at the purple girl "go for their eyes or something."

"This is a bad idea."

"I didn't hear you coming up with any ideas."

"These guys are trained soldiers, and we are unarmed."

"So what? I'm a S ranked pro, this will be nothing."

"If it does work, where will we go?"

"No time to think about that, get ready."

A black haired Octoling with seaweed on her head appeared, Kal and the other two heard a metallic clicking sound, the cell was unlocking.

"Alright guys, get ready!" Bogs said, as the cell door swung open, revealing an Elite Octoling flanked by two normal Octolings and two Octotroopers.


	3. Unfair

**Melanin prison, Octo Valley**

"Raaaaagh!" Bogs yelled as he tackled the first Octarian he saw.

The Octarian in question was in fact the captain of the prison guards, an Elite Octoling who looked just like any other Elite, and just like the other Elites, she was highly trained in combat, and had no sympathy for Inklings.

So it was unsurprising how she reacted to Bogs' head on attack.

Instead of panicked shooting like most Octarians would have done, the captain dropped on her back just as Bogs lunged at her, she drove her foot into his chest, turning Bogs' own momentum against him and sending him flying over her, out the cell and face first into the wall.

With no moments wasted she kicked her legs up, then threw herself back on her feet like a ninja.

If Kal and the other prisoner had any intention of fighting they lost it when they saw this demonstration of fighting skill.

The Elite and the other guards who accompanied her quickly turned to Bogs, who was still hurting from flying into the wall.

What happened next was too violent for Kal to watch, he turned away, trying hard to ignore the sound of Bogs crying in pain and five Octarian soldiers beating him down.

The small purple Inkling next to Kal also could not watch this, yet she was struck with fear and couldn't look away either, instead she covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

The soldiers; the captain, two Octolings, and two Octotroopers whacked Bogs with their weapons, and kicked him with their feet, more than a whole minute of endless beating had passed when they finally stopped.

"Take him to the infirmary." the captain said, and the Octotroopers dragged Bogs off.

The captain then stepped inside the cell, Kal was still turned away from her, so she let him feel the cold barrel of her Octoshot against the back of his neck.

Kal shivered as he felt death closing in on him.

"Do you have any big ideas too?"

"No" Kal quietly responsed

The captain then turned to the purple Inkling, who froze in fear.

She pulled the poor girl close to her, and stared deep into her eyes, striking even more fear into the already terrified Inkling.

"What about you short stuff? The door is right there, want to make a run for it?"

Tears began to stream down the purple Inkling's eyes, she shook her head quickly, and the captain backed away.

As she turned to leave, the captain made sure to give Kalus a good smack in the back of the head with her Octoshot, making Kal fall to the ground clutching his head, as the purple Inkling burst into tears.

"Now go to sleep, and don't any of you dare say a word until morning!"

The purple haired Inkling quickly obeyed and ran to her bunk, Kal was out cold so he didn't move, the captain smiled at this and left the cell.

"Good work you two." she said to the two Octoling guards, and the heavy cell door slammed shut.

When Kal finally regained consciousness the first thing he heard was crying, the purple Inkling must have really been terrified of what had happened and was sobbing away.

"Are you alright?" Kal asked

The purple Inkling didn't respond, and kept on crying.

"Don't worry, they won't lay a finger on you, you'll be fine." Kal wanted to comfort this poor kid, but then again he was a complete stranger to her, so he wasn't sure what to do, all he knew was that this little girl needed help.

But what could he do? He didn't know who she was, not even her name, how could comfort somebody who was completely unknown to him?

'_Maybe she never expected something like this to happen and has a hard time dealing with it? Honestly I don't think anyone in Inkopolis would have expected this.' _Kal thought as he remembered how he didn't want to open his eyes yesterday, it wasn't because he couldn't, but because he didn't want to see the truth: that he had been taken captive by the Octarian army.

'_Why would the Octarians squidnap us? Maybe they know about Inker and want to lure him here? But that would only explain why I was captured, what do they want with her and Bogs?'_

Kal was too deep in thought and missed the chance to comfort the crying Inkling, who at this point couldn't take it anymore and fell asleep, too tired to continue crying.

'_Sigh, no use thinking about it now.'_ Kal thought

He remembered that there were Octolings guarding the cell at this time, maybe one of them could explain.

Kal went to the door and tried speaking to them

"Excuse me, can I ask you something?"

No response

"Can you hear me?"

Still nothing

Kal wanted to yell, but he didn't want to wake up the sleeping Inkling, nor did he want to end up on the Octarians' wrong side.

"You can't hear me can you?" Kal said again, acting as if someone was listening.

Once again, nobody replied.

Giving up, Kal turned back, but he believed someone had to be listening, there had to be a camera or something in the cell, right?

He wasn't sure if there was or not, but Kal decided to sit down in the middle of the room, so that if there was, they could see him.

Unbeknownst to him, the Octolings outside were aware of his movements.

"Now the red one is acting up too."

"Is he really trying to lure us inside like the orange one? Gosh these Inklings are dumb."

"We won't know unless we hear him." one said, as her hand went over to the two way button.

Back in the cell, Kal was curled up in the center of the room instead of sleeping in the bunks.

The cold hard floor reminded him that he was no longer in the wonderful high tech city of Inkopolis.

"Please tell me this is a nightmare, please."

He hoped that maybe he would fall asleep and wake up in his own room the next day.

Why was he here? What had he done to deserve this? He couldn't help but wonder.

He let these questions slip out without noticing.

Suddenly a voice broke the silence of the room.

"Because ever since the Great Turf War, not a single one of you Inklings ever stopped to think about us." It was the voice of one of the guards.

Kal got up, someone was listening! He quickly went back to the door.

"That's not true, I know for a fact that many Inklings and even some of the Agents hope for the Octarians' well being."

That wasn't exactly a lie, he knew that Inker, as Agent 3 had indeed fought the Octarian army and yet he still wanted to end hostilities between the two races. But Kal could only speak for his experience, and he did not know how Callie, Marie or Cap'n Cuttlefish thought of the Octarians.

"What would you know about the Agents?"

"I know Agent 3 better than anyone, i'm serious."

"Yeah, and we totally believe you."

"I'm telling the truth, it's not that we don't care about you, but because hardly anyone knows what's going on down here."

"Then that just means the majority of Inklings are too ignorant to even think about others."

"No it doesn't, it just means that we haven't had a chance to see the truth."

"Even if that's true, it doesn't change the fact that you Inklings left us to rot underground for over a century, what have you got to say about that?"

"We don't know what really happened all those years ago."

"Well we do, DJ Octavio fought that war, and he as told us about the Inkling betrayal, how your race panicked at the thought of rising sea level, and stole all the Zapfish before we could react."

"Cap'n Cuttlefish also fought in that war, and he tells a different story, like I said, there is no way we can be certain of what really happened."

"Well, guess not, so we will stick to our story and keep you locked up until someone can prove us wrong, good night now."

The Octoling shut off the two way.

"You can't do that! We are innocent! we have never done anything to you! Why us of all squids?"

No response

Kal was quiet once again

He was squidnapped

He was beaten

He was thrown in jail without reason

And now he was ignored

All this was very unfair, and honestly it made him more than a little angry.

* * *

**Octo Valley, Victoria's apartment home**

"_What do you mean?" Kal was as worried as ever._

"_When you first saw me that day, you asked "How did the Octoling hunt go?" but then you said that you hadn't watched the news that day, so how could you have known it was an Octoling in Inkopolis? I think I know the answer to that!"_

'_Oh no!' Kal thought to himself_

_At this moment Victoria felt something pressed against the back of her head._

"_Found youuuuu!" Neon said in a cheerful tone._

_Victoria got up in a panic, she grabbed Neon's Splatterscope and pushed it sideways, making the first shot miss. Neon wasn't messing around, she kicked Victoria away and began charging another shot._

_And what was different this time, was that Kal didn't shield her from impending doom….._

Victoria woke up, it was dark outside, but then again it always was in Octo Valley.

What was that dream she just had? It was like what had happened back in Inkopolis, only this time she was killed in an instant.

Victoria heard someone downstairs "_Violet must be up already" _she thought

Well it was 7:30 in the morning, so it was about time to wake up.

Victoria went downstairs and greeted her friend, and then went about making breakfast.

The phone rang halfway through their meal.

"I got it." Violet said as she reached for the phone.

"Hello? No, hold on i'll get her. It's for you."

Violet handed the phone to Victoria

"Hello?"

"Hi dear."

Victoria immediately set the phone down

"Who was it?" Violet asked

"None of your business."

"It was your parents then."

Violet knew that Victoria didn't exactly have the best relationship with her folks, they called every week or so, but Victoria always hung up on them.

"You know me well."

"You really should give them a chance, they obviously want to tell you something."

"I take back what I just said, you don't know me very well."

* * *

After breakfast Victoria and Violet went to their separate jobs, Violet took a tram to the nearby hospital, while Victoria took the subway to Nautilus base.

She might have hated what Octavia was doing with the army, but she still had to make a living, so she tried her best to ignore what she saw yesterday and move on.

Unluckily for her, all anyone seemed to be able to talk about was yesterday's announcement.

One of the Octolings from her squadron walked up to Victoria.

"Victoria! did you hear? The acting leader is choosing more and more candidates for positions among the Elites!" The Octoling was hopping with excitement

"Really! that's great!" Victoria said excitedly, despite not actually being excited.

"I know right! They say that the acting leader wants to send more squads through the manhole using the method they used last time."

"More squads, is that why she is recruiting more Octolings for the ranks of the Elites?"

"Yeah, I heard that we plan on forcing the Inklings to attack us, so we will be squidnapping more and more of their people until they have no choice but to fight!"

'_How can you be so excited about this?' _Victoria wondered "Well then, I guess we better get ready, these Inklings aren't going down easy!"

"There we go! I knew your time in Inkopolis wouldn't ruin your Octarian spirit! If I become an Elite, I want you watching my back in Inkopolis, you know the place better than anyone here so you would be the best octopus for the job!"

"Thanks, but I don't think I would be of much help anyways." Victoria replied, hoping to end the conversation quickly

"Nonsense! I already recommended you to the acting leader! You can thank me later, right now I gotta get to the weight room, a war will start soon so I gotta be in top shape!"

Victoria waved goodbye to the excited young Octoling, Victoria was once just like that, so she didn't know how to break it to her that real fighting was not as it cracked up to be.

Her whole day was spent moving from training facility to training facility, from running, to weapon assembly, to target practice, and everywhere she went, she saw more Octarians excited about going to war.

'_Am I the only here with any sense of reason?' _Victoria wondered '_Going to war is nothing to be excited about, why is everyone so pumped up!?'_

Later during lunch, Victoria found herself in the middle of another conversation.

"These Inklings are walking right into our trap!" and Octotrooper said

"I can't wait for them to come! I want to get a triple splat!" an Octostriker said

"Good luck, by the time your saucer gets to the front they would be completely wiped out!" an Octosniper said.

"What by you? I could shoot better than you while half asleep!"

"No way, I'm a sniper for a reason, I never miss."

"Then what were those low shots in the firing range earlier? Were you aiming for the ground!"

Conversations like this were going on all around.

Victoria didn't say anything to anyone, she just stayed quiet and ate.

"Hey Victoria! What's wrong with you today? You haven't said a word!"

It was that big and loud Octostriker called Kevin again

"Oh nothing, just don't feel myself today."

'_Actually now that I think of it, an Octostriker has a higher security clearance because of how rare they are.'_ recalling this, Victoria decided to pump information from him.

"I wonder what happened after yesterday's assembly." Victoria said

"Huh? Well everyone was really happy don't you remember?"

"Not that, I mean what does Octavia plan to do now?"

The Octostriker called Kevin always loved talking to someone, and knew almost everybody, in fact he loved talking so much he often forgot that he was supposed to keep some things secret, so when Victoria asked this he began mouthing away.

"Ahh you see, Octa- I mean the acting leader, has been keeping one of the splatoons at Melanin prison."

"What? What would she want with that dump?"

"I was getting to that, she is keeping all the Inklings we capture there, I heard she even brought the old war prison back to working condition."

'_Just as I thought, this big mouth will easily tell me everything I need to know, I should make note of that.'_

"Melanin prison, maybe I should apply for guard duty there."

"I doubt you would be accepted, they already have all the guards they need, plus I heard Octavia appointed one heck of an Elite to be the captain of the guard."

"Who did she appoint to captain?"

"I don't know her name, all I know is that it was one of the Elites who went on the first squidnapping mission."

"First? You mean there's more?"

"Yep! Just yesterday Octavia sent two more teams of Elites to Inkopolis, she is really a octopus of action, even DJ Octavio didn't order that many attacks! Actually those aren't really attacks but they are similar, oh I can't wait! When we get to invade Inkopolis i'll see the sun come up for the first time in my life!"

"So will all of us! We better stay in good shape though, otherwise we might not be allowed to enter combat."

"That doesn't matter I just want to see the sky someday, I read a bunch of Octavio's old books and they say the sky changes color all on it's own when it goes from day to night!"

"_And now he's blubbering about the sky, is a bunch of colors really that exciting?"_ Victoria wondered, after all she saw the sky when she was in Inkopolis and thought nothing of it.

"Wow that sounds incredible!" Victoria said, now wishing that she did not start a conversation with Kevin.

Luckily an Octotrooper cut in

"Don't believe that mucus, there is no way something like the sky can change color on it's own."

"Yes it can, there is a scientific reason behind it!"

"No way, I bet the sky is an Inkling creation and someone changes its colors when they want the Inklings to sleep, just like here in Octo Valley."

Victoria used this distraction to slip away.

At least now she knew where Kal was being held, now all that was left was to decide whether to tell Inker or not.

* * *

**Inkopolis plaza**

Walking out of a local cafe was Inker, Neon and Sky, as always the friends had a great day, but the fact that Kal is missing worried them.

"Wooohoooo I love that flurry special!" Neon said

"You seem way too excited when Kalus is missing." Sky reminded her

"Oh yeah, thats sad, but that's not stopping me from having fun in sad times!"

"You must think funerals are fun too."

"Hey don't say things like that, you might jinx someone!"

"Sometimes you amaze me with how endlessly happy you are all the time."

Sky had become friends with Inker because he was cool, calm, collected and reasonable, he also seemed to know the answer to everything, Neon on the other hand could possibly be his polar opposite, always smiling and energetic even when she should not be and literally saying whatever was on her mind.

"Hey! Life is too short to be sad, so I'm always looking for ways to have fun!"

"And all those ways include Turf Wars or some sort of game."

"Nah, not if Inker lets me go to Octo Valley again, Whaddya say!?" Neon said as she gave Inker a heartly smack on his back.

"No way, you aren't ready for something like that, plus I told you not to mention that while the blues are watching us!" Inker replied

The blues in question were the officers who seemed to be watching them everywhere they went.

"Seriously what's with these guys? Why won't they leave us alone?" Neon wondered

"Maybe we are suspects." Inker replied

"Hey you tell me, you're the secret agent here."

"Okay, well then we definitely are suspects, so let's just carry on as normal until the whole thing blows over."

"But won't they never stop following us until they find Kal and the others?" Sky asked

"Yeah they won't, kinda sad actually, if I had to do an investigation I wouldn't be putting tails on everyone."

"I thought you were an Agent and not a detective."

"Well I guess some Agent skills can be related to detective work."

Neon spoke up as well

"Yep, it's like a real pro watching a wannabe pro, I would never follow random squids around just because of a suspicion."

"I thought you said you didn't remember what you did when you searched for Victoria."

"I don't, but I know that I never followed Kal around until I had solid evidence that he was hiding something!"

Sky stopped the two for a moment "Should we really be talking about this here? I mean they can probably hear us."

"There is at least thirty other Inklings between us and them, they can't hear a thing." Inker replied, pointing out that the officer watching them was doing so from a great distance, and in the middle of Inkopolis plaza too.

"Hey look! Now there two of them!"

A second officer was spotted near the first, but he was looking in another direction.

"Who is he following?"

"I don't know."

"Sounds fun! Wanna find out!"

"Seriously Neon, how is that fun?"

"Mysteries and detective stuff! How is that not fun!"

"I thought you only liked Turf Wars."

"No I just like Turf Wars and fighting, they are an important part of me."

"Hey i'm up for it." Inker said "Let's see who else is a suspect, who knows, maybe we can find Kal before the cops do."

And that was how Inker, Neon and Sky ran into Laven for the third day in a row, they followed the officer's sight and saw the familiar purple haired Inkling, since he had been to the precinct yesterday too he was likely the other suspect.

"Hiya Laven!" Neon said

"Ahhh!" Laven screamed, startled by Neon's sudden greeting.

"Are you always this jumpy?"

Laven recognized the group, and calmed down.

"Oh it's you guys again."

"Were you expecting anyone else?"

"No, but someone keeps watching me everywhere I go, it's freaking me out."

"Oh you mean the cops? Yeah they are following us too."

'Wait you brought them to me?"

"Umm there was one following you already."

"What? Why would they do that?"

"My best guess is that they don't have any suspects so they are following us on the off chance that we know something." Inker replied

"But why? We have nothing to hide, we told them everything they wanted to know."

"Give them a break, nothing like this ever happens so the IPD probably has no idea where to start."

"Hey speaking of the IPD." Neon cut in, her eyes watching someone approaching.

Det. Vert had shown up again, he put his arms on his waist.

"Well, well, it's you four again."

"Why are you following us? We didn't have anything to do with the missing squids!" Laven asked

"What are you talking about?" Vert said sarcastically

"Don't give me that, I see those officers watching us in the distance."

"Well aren't you observant, makes me wonder why you are so worried if you say you are innocent."

"You really shouldn't be putting a tail on us," Inker spoke up "It's a waste of time, we are innocent."

"No, see that's what you tell yourselves, but are you really?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well I don't expect you kids to know this, but it is very possible convince yourself to believe in false facts, so I can't exactly take your word for anything."

"So you're saying that we only think we are innocent because we tell ourselves this, that's a bunch of rubbish."

"Well, trying to avoid our sight doesn't exactly help your case here, Inker."

"Who wouldn't try to find some privacy!? You even had people watching my house last night!"

"As a detective I cannot afford to let any suspects out of my sight."

"You can't do this! This is harassment!"

"Yes I can, and I know for a fact that soon one of you will confess." Vert said, his finger darting between Inker and Laven.

"Why would any of us confess to anything?"

"Sorry but my time is valuable, I can't afford to argue with you kids, see you around."

Vert walked away, waving goodbye to the four Inklings.

"Kraken, I hate that guy already." Sky said

"Is it true though?" Laven asked

"What's true?"

"That we can force ourselves to believe something false?"

"Well certainly, I mean lots of people have trouble believing facts right?"

"Huh….. Well nice seeing you guys again, I need to go."

Laven hurried away

"Maybe you shouldn't have said that, that guy is already blaming himself." Inker remarked

"Right sorry I wasn't thinking, I just don't like lying."

"That's fine, we don't know him very well yet, so who knows what will happen now."

"Still I don't like the idea of someone following me everywhere I go." Neon added

"Don't worry, he doesn't suspect you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well that so called detective seemed to be implying that either me or Laven were guilty of something, so that means those officers are only following me and him."

"Well then that's a load of my shoulders."

"Which is why I gotta ask you for a favor."

"Sure! What do ya need?"

Inker lowered his voice so that only Neon and Sky could hear.

"I want you to go to Octo Valley and ask Cap'n Cuttlefish if the Octarians had been doing anything suspicious lately."

Neon jumped with excitement "Gimmie ten minutes to run home and grab my E-Liter!"

"On second thought Sky, you should go alone."

"Okay."

"Why can't I go?"

"Because I don't want you running off starting a fight with the Octarians."

"I won't! I'll just be bringing along an E-Liter just in case something happens."

"She has a point Inker, this is Octo Valley we are talking about."

"Yeah, plus last time I went there I didn't shoot a thing till you told me too."

"But i'm not going with you this time, with Vert's officers following me I can't have him following and finding out about the New Squidbeak Splatoon."

"Don't worry, Ill be fine without you."

"You just really want to go don't you?"

"I'm not going to let you stop me."

"Sigh."

Inker finally gave in "Alright, but both of you are going okay?"

"Okay!" Neon happily replied

Inker turned to Sky "Sky, watch Neon for me alright, we both know how she can be when it comes to fighting."

"Just leave it to me."

As his two friends left, Inker pulled out his squid phone to let the Cap'n know that he had visitors coming.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

_Munch munch munch_

Cap'n Cuttlefish gleefully munched on his seemingly endless supply of Crabby Cakes.

Why it seemed like an endless supply was obvious to a certain few (including you).

Octavia's Crabby Cake distractions were working perfectly, the Cap'n had no idea what was going on around him.

Like before, a team of four Elite Octolings slipped past, this time a second team followed shortly after.

A third team remained close by, ready to place another distraction when it was time for the teams to return.

Half an hour had passed when two beings passed through the manhole.

At first the nearby Elite Octoling team thought something had gone wrong and prepared to dive into combat, but then they noticed it was two normal looking Inklings, although one of them had a Charger slung across her back.

"Hiya!" Neon said giving Cuttlefish a fright as well

"What in tarnation!?"

"You need to stop greeting people so loudly." Sky remarked

"Oops my bad." Neon apologized

"What are you young'uns doing here? It's dangerous in Octo Valley."

It was almost as if Cuttlefish hadn't been expecting company.

"Our friend Inker told us to come, didn't he tell you?"

"Hmm? Oh you mean Agent 3, hold on let me check…"

Cuttlefish pulled out his phone and noticed that Agent 3 had indeed sent him a message about twenty minutes ago.

"Ahh okay, I see now, say, I remember seeing you before, well why are you two here? Don't tell me ya plan on becoming Agents as well."

"Ohmygosh yes I'd lo-" Neon began but Sky cut her off

"No, Inker just wanted to know if the Octarians had been doing anything suspicious lately."

"No siree, everything is nice and peaceful around here."

Not to far away, the Elites in hiding wanted to laugh upon hearing this, the old fool had no idea what they had been doing under his nose.

"But anyways, why did Agent 3 send you when he just ask me over the phone?"

"It's kinda complicated, he is kinda busy, and also I don't think you would have picked up the phone anyways."

"Ahh ya got me there kiddo."

"Well anyways if nothing's going on then we'll be leaving now."

"Aww, but we just got here." Neon complained

"Look around, do you see anything worth staying for?" Sky replied

Neon's gaze focused on several kettles close by

"Yup, I think we should take a look in one of those!" Neon said, drawing her E-Liter

"Nope nope nope, we are going back to Inkopolis."

Sky had to practically drag Neon back.

"Ow ow ow, okay okay, let go of me jeez."

She waved goodbye to the Cap'n as she was dragged away

"Good seeing you again! If you ever need an Agent 4 I'm the squid for the job! Remember that!" Neon yelled before turning her attention to Sky

"There, I said goodbye and now we are leaving, so let go of me."

The two returned to Inkopolis safely and called Inker to let him know that the Cap'n saw no Octarian do anything suspicious in Octo Valley in the past month.

With no one left to suspect, Inker and his friends tried to return to their normal lives for a while, and hoped that Det, Vert could maybe find their friend again someday.

* * *

**Inkopolis, Five days later**

It was now night time in Inkopolis, Inklings everywhere had gone to sleep, however throughout this entire city, some squids stayed wake.

Some had to finish up with work, others stayed up late because they liked the night, for Laven though it was because he couldn't sleep, not with so much on his mind.

He was seated in front of his computer, the screen illuminating his face in his dark room.

He knew that someone was outside his house watching, it had been like that for days now.

He had been trying to find out about what Vert had said, about how someone may believe something that is false if they keep telling it to themselves, he ended up reading an article about repressed memories.

Supposedly memories associated with a high level of stress or trauma could be blocked off.

He began asking himself questions, and answered them in two ways, as if he could not make up his mind on what he really was: one part of him felt guilty, the other tried to maintain innocence.

'_So maybe I did do something that day? No way, I love and care deeply for Lila I would never. Could I? It is my fault that she is missing in the first place, maybe I did more then just bring her to turf wars too early. No mom and dad agreed too and they are equally worried. Why am I the only one feeling so guilty over this? Maybe I really am guilty of something, no Lila would never go off on her own, wait but that means that I would have done something to make her go missing, no I couldn't I have no reason to do such a thing. After all she is an amazing little sister, she grows up so quickly, she is so smart, she is always at the top of her class, heh I might even feel jealous of her someday. Wait! Maybe I was jealous! No way I'm proud not jealous, or maybe I only think i'm proud because I tell myself that but I'm really just jealous? Or maybe the other way around?'_

Nobody could see it coming, but with Lila's disappearance, Vert's suspicions, Sky's confirmation of the possibility followed by the knowledge repressed memories drove Laven towards the breaking point.

* * *

**Melanin prison**

"Why didn't you help you damn cowards!"

Bogs had recovered from his beating and was put back in the cell with Kal and the purple Inkling, as soon as he got back be blamed Kal and the other one for his plan's failure.

"If any of you had helped I wouldn't have been beaten so badly, as a S rank I feel humiliated!"

"Calm down" Kal said "There was way too many guards, it wasn't your fault."

"You're right it wasn't my fault, it was yours!"

"Excuse me, my fault?!"

"Yeah you heard me, I said we all fight our way out, I didn't say standby and watch me get beaten up now did I?"

"You expe-"

"DID I!?"

Kal was getting pissed too

"Don't blame me for your stupid plan."

"At least I had a plan."

"Yeah a plan to get us all killed!"

In the back of the room, the purple haired Inkling remained quiet and kept her distance from Kal and Bogs.

'_Those two are scary.' _she thought

"I have had enough of you!" Bogs was furious, he then turned to the door "And you two, come fight me one on one, you eight tentacled pieces of ****" he yelled, pounding on the door.

'_Great now i'm stuck with a meathead who thinks brute force is the only way out.' _Kal thought.

Of course this was the least of their problems, in another part of Octo Valley Octavia had just issued a new order.

* * *

Octavia had expected the Agents of the New Squidbeak Splatoon to immediately assume the Octarians were responsible for the squidnappings and charge into Octo Valley to rescue the captives, allowing the Octarian army to set up an ambush, but it had been a week and nothing happened.

"Looks like the Agents haven't noticed our activities yet, and at this rate Melanin prison will fill up." Octavia said, she turned to one of the Elites "Tell the captain that she may do whatever she wants with our current prisoners."

She knew that the captain of the guard hated Inklings as much as she did, plus in Octavia's mind all the Octarians wanted to see Inklings suffer.

"Understood, I shall inform the captain of the guard that she may now ignore the well being of our prisoners." an Elite replied

When that order arrived the captain of the guard grinned evilly.

She already had a idea in mind.

She turned to a monitor showing live footage of the cell from the outside

'_If you thought the beatings were bad, wait till you find out what I got in store for you.'_


	4. To Octo Valley

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

Another day as usual, getting up, making breakfast, small talk with Violet, heading to Nautilus base, a day of training, random conversations in the mess hall….

"Hey guys!" loud mouthed Kevin the Octostriker plopped himself between a bunch of his squadmates, Victoria included.

"Alright big guy, you look like you got something to say." came the voice of an Octosniper

"Well indeed I do, you're going to like this."

"Oh great it's one of those stories, everyone plug your ears, otherwise you'll fall asleep." Victoria joked

"No seriously you want to hear this, a prisoner died yesterday."

A chill went down Victoria's back as if those words became icicles and stabbed her in the back.

"Say what?"

"A prisoner, you know, an Inkling."

"Which one!" Victoria nearly shouted at the large Octostriker.

"What's up with you all of a sudden, I don't know which one, I just wanted to let you all know that we aren't just taking prisoners anymore, oh right, and the second wave of Elites in Inkopolis are going to return today."

"Before you get to that, tell me in detail what happened at the prison."

"Yeah I want to know too." and Octotrooper added

Feeling happy to have an audience, Kevin happily told his story.

"Well you see what happened was…."

* * *

**Melanin prison, eight hours ago**

Kalus was trying his best to sleep, a task not made easy with Bogs punching the door.

"Haven't you lot heard of a fair fight!"

Kal wanted to get him to stop, but it was obvious that he wasn't the type to listen….

So instead Kal stayed quiet and hoped that he could fall asleep eventually.

Kal heard the cell door opening, he and the other captured Inkling got up to see who was coming in.

It was the captain of the guards, followed by four Octolings.

Bogs was silent all of a sudden, as if the captain's presence had drained all his strength to speak.

"You" the captain pointed at Bogs "you are the first one."

"First one for what?"

Nobody replied, instead Bogs was quickly bounded and gagged by four Octolings, once they were done he was left squirming.

"Take him to the boiling pit!" the captain ordered

'_The WHAT?!'_ Kal wondered

Both he and the purple Inkling watched as two Octolings carried Bogs away, off to someplace called the "boiling pit".

The captain noticed the two Inklings watching, she smiled at them and left the cell.

"You two" the captain addressed two Octoling guards "Keep that cell open just a bit, I want them to hear this."

The captain then walked off to another room, leaving doors open behind her.

When she reached the boiling pit Bogs was in a panic, he struggled and with all his might tried to break free, but to no avail.

The captain then decided to ungag him, as soon as she did, she kicked him into a pit of boiling water.

If Bogs had fallen through the grate and reached the water he would have been spared from what would soon be the worst moments of his life.

See normally Inklings stay away from water as they were unable to survive in it, or in other words they dissolved when exposed to too much water. During the Great Turf Wars the Octarians had taken advantage of that and built the horrible thing known as the boiling pit, a thirty feet deep hole with a grate at the bottom, below it water was boiled to extremely hot temperatures, sending hot steam flying upwards. What did this feel to the poor Inklings who were thrown in? Well it felt like how humans would feel if they were scalded.

The steam did what boiling water would have done to humans, instead of causing instant death, it brought the victim close to it, first blisters would form all over the affected area, followed by a rapid loss of bodily fluids, leading to dehydration then finally a loss of skin leading to a high risk of infections.

It was enough to make anyone wish they had died a long time ago

"AHHHHH!"

Bogs' screams brought pleasure to the captain and her guards, after all they believed that the current living conditions of Octo Valley were far worse then what the Inkling was experiencing now, so what they were seeing now was considered justice in their eyes.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! PLEASE!"

Now the captain had planned out everything, the boiling pit alone would not finish off Bogs, no the Octarians had their own ethics in mind, the boiling pit would not end anyone's life, but rather test their will to live.

"PLEASE NO MORE! I'LL DO ANYTHING PLEASE! LET ME OUT!"

Bogs was begging to be let out, his previous acts as the tough guy now disappeared when faced with such an awful feeling.

His cries echoed through the prison, loud enough to be heard by Kal and the other Inkling, they both covered their ears, trying not to imagine what the boiling pit was, but it was not enough, Bogs was screaming at the top of his lungs, every shout made Kal wince, he hoped he would never find out what Bogs was going through.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

As the water in the pit was starting to run low, the captain dropped her Octoshot down the pit, it was filled with the Octarians' magenta colored ink so even if Bogs climbed out, he would not be able to use it against anyone.

Another precaution was that the Octoshot was not attached to an Ink Tank, so it could fire five or six shots, this way the Inkling would have no way of defeating the guards.

But Bogs couldn't even think about shooting someone else now, as soon as the Octoshot reached him he picked it up, and turned it on himself. Not willing to suffer any longer Bogs pulled the trigger.

"Not so tough now are ya!" the captain shouted into the pit, where Bogs had reduced himself to a puddle of ink.

This was not a Turf War map, so there was no spawn points, nor any respawning in general, not in a place which was lacking sufficient power to keep itself from falling apart like Octo Valley, Bogs was gone forever.

Once the screams stopped Kal heard the Octolings outside lock the cell again, the captain had planned to torment the Inklings even further by letting them hear Bogs' cries for help, and she succeeded.

Now everytime a guard, no, when anyone walked by Kal and the other Inkling would close their eyes and hope that their time hadn't come, to them, the sound of footsteps became the sound of the grim reaper, in fact now they would ever fear the small Octotroopers who guarded them during the daytime.

The little purple Inkling was crying again

Kal tried once again to comfort her, maybe it was because nobody else had said a word to her in the last few days, or maybe because what they had just heard was just too terrifying, but this time the purple Inkling seemed to quiet down a bit to listen.

"Everything will be fine, we can stay on their good sides, what happened to Bogs will never happen to us." Kal lied, he had to, after all he wanted to believe that what they done to Bogs was out of revenge for his earlier ramblings.

The purple Inkling calmed down a bit

"There you go, be strong, nothing will happen to us here."

"I want to go home." the purple Inkling was on the verge of crying again.

"Yes, I do too, but right now we need to be strong."

The purple Inkling nodded and fought back tears

"My brother, my brother is probably worried about me."

"Don't worry, i'm sure he is out there looking for you, you'll both be fine, I promise."

"Do you?" the Inkling asked

She looked like she would cry again if Kal said no.

"Yes, I promise you will get out of here safely, and you will go back to Inkopolis and see your family again."

Kal suddenly remembered that he didn't know this one's name yet.

"By the way, i'm my name Kalus, but my friends call me Kal, what's your name?"

"Lila"

"That's a great name."

"I… I shouldn't be here"

Lila was about to cry again

"There there, I told you everything is fine, no need to cry."

Despite his comfort Lila began to cry again, this time in Kal's arms

Kal gave her a pat on the back to help calm her down.

'_Huh, that's not normal.'_

When Kal gave her a pat on the back it seemed to make a ripple through her, that was not normal for an Inkling who could transform freely.

Not only that but now that he could feel it, Lila felt oddly soft.

Stranger more, she looked just like a normal fully developed Inkling, so she had to be at least 14 or close, but she still felt like an underdeveloped Inkling, basically a squid who couldn't fully assume a kid form yet. if that was the case then why could she transform freely?

Lila was still going on about how she shouldn't be here.

"Why is that?" Kal asked, now curious.

"I shouldn't have been in Inkopolis tower."

"Why not? It's open to everyone, you are more than allowed in there."

"No I wasn't I was too young but mommy and daddy told me I was lucky enough to start early."

"Start early?"

"Yes I didn't reach the age requirement."

So she was younger, but her skin and kid form looked just like any other Inkling, the only difference was her size, she was abnormally small for a 14 year old.

"That's fine, I know a guy, Sky, he started when he was 13 cause he grew faster than others."

Lila cried a bit less

"In fact many Inklings play turf when they are 13"

"I am different."

Lila had stopped crying, she began to remember things from happier times, times when her whole family was by her side.

"Mommy always said I was gifted." Lila said

"I'm sure you are."

"I was at the top of all my classes, I learned faster and grew faster, my brother called me a prodigy."

Kal gave Lila a warm smile, she was now distracted from reality, just enough to calm her down.

'_She must be smart but underdeveloped, that could explain why she feels weird.' _Kal thought

"So when I began to look like this, my family suggested that maybe I could begin Turf Wars early, I wanted to play Turf Wars like my brother so one day I asked him if I could come along."

Suddenly she was back to reality "Now I'm here, I shouldn't have went to Inkopolis tower."

"Don't worry about that, like I said many Inklings play Turf before they are fourteen."

"But I am much younger than all of them."

'_Is she even younger then the thirteen year olds?'_

"How much younger are you?"

"Three years younger."

"Oh my gosh….."

'_Lila wasn't someone with more brain then brawn, she wasn't underdeveloped, she was just a very young Inkling who developed her kid form three years early.'_

"You are only eleven years old?" Kal said shocked

Lila nodded

"But you look like any fourteen year old Inkling I have seen."

"My parents did say I grew fast."

'_That is what she meant by gifted, that's why she felt so weird, she can do things no one else her age could do.'_

At that moment, Kal vowed to never let anything happen to this unfortunate child, after all, who could let an eleven year old die in a place like this? If the captain ever wanted to throw someone in the boiling pit again, Kal would gladly volunteer.

* * *

**Present time, Inkopolis**

"Did the cops give any information at all?"

Inker was on the phone with Marie, asking her for information on a recent news broadcast.

"Sorry, we don't know anything that wasn't already said on TV, is something the matter."

"Yes, the way the IPD and Det. Vert is handling things, all they did was get a false confession out of some random guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

What were they talking about? well it was what Inker had just seen on Inkopolis news: Laven had confessed to the squidnappings of Inklings Kal, Bogs and Lila.

This didn't feel right, Inker was sure that someone else had to be behind this, thus he called the squid sisters for more information.

"It's possible but i'm not sure, do you think maybe the Octarians are involved?" Marie asked

"Yes I did, but the Cap'n says he didn't see any Octarians enter or exit Inkopolis, regardless the way the Inklings disappeared so suddenly without a trace definitely reminds me of the Octarians and the theft of the great Zapfish"

"That's what I think, but it's pretty strange for gramps to miss something like an Octarian slipping in to Inkopolis."

"I know right, the Cap'n always seems so paranoid when it comes to the Octarians, it would be strange if he really did miss something."

"Speaking of strange ol gramps hasn't been asking us to get groceries for him recently, not that i'm complaining, but I still need to worry if he's got enough food."

"Wait, you and Callie buy the Cap'n groceries for him?"

"Yeah he keeps saying something about never leaving his post or something, maybe you should check on him again."

"Guess I should, anyways if you hear anything from Det. Vert let me know okay? Thanks."

"Stay fresh!"

Inker hung up, then proceeded to Inkopolis plaza.

Naturally it was as busy as always, so many sea creatures everywhere, one could hardly see past the sea of faces.

As usual Inker ran into Neon and Sky, they had all seen the news and none of them would believe it.

"I mean who would, think about it, Laven is already depressed after losing someone, then we got Vert harassing him everyday, no wonder he would go and make a false confession." Inker said

"The problem is we have no idea who really is behind this." Sky replied

"I still think it's the Octarains, are you sure Cuttlefish said nothing was happening in Octo Valley?"

"Yep"

"That's strange."

"Well we can't do anything about it now, how about we go for a round of Turf Wars!" Neon exclaimed

"Excited as always huh."

"You guys go on ahead I have to run an errand."

"Does it involve storming a few Octarian lairs?"

"Do you have to ask that everytime I say I need to do something? No i'm not, I just need to check on the Cap'n, no fighting involved."

Neon looked disappointed, but she quickly smiled again and waved goodbye.

"Okay then, see ya later!"

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

Victoria was shook

Kevin the big mouthed Octostriker had just told her of a prisoner's fate.

On the surface she made it look like she didn't care for who died, in fact she and her squadmates praised the actions of Melanin prison's guards, but deep down Victoria hoped it wasn't Kal.

'_It couldn't be Kal could it? There were two others so it is 1 out of 3'_

Yes it was unlikely that Kal died, but still who was to say that he wouldn't be next?

It was probably the most difficult decision to make, but Victoria had been considering either going to Melanin herself, or ratting out the Octarians to Cap'n Cuttlefish or Agent 3.

Of course from what she had heard, Octavia was trying to start another war, believing that the Octarians would have the advantage, if war did break out many lives would be lost in the process.

But if the Octarians did win the war, then they could use the Zapfish and rebuild Octo Valley to be better than ever, and if they lost then nothing would change, it seemed like at this point the Octarians had nothing left to lose.

Plus if the Inklings are defeated by the Octarian army that doesn't necessarily mean the Inklings are done for. right?

Besides, Inkopolis is in great condition right now, so if the army took the Zapfish for a few years nothing bad would happen.

Still, Victoria could not shake the feeling of being indebted to Kal and Inker.

With that in mind Victoria made her choice.

'_I love my people yes, but if I leave Kal to die i'll never live it down, I owe him, him and Agent 3. Plus, there is no guarantee that war will benefit us at all'_

Victoria had made her decision, it was time to tell Inker of what happened, she went home to make preparations.

Since the Octarians' couldn't splat each other with their regular ink, Victoria went to a printer in her home and removed the Ink cartridge.

Victoria then took several Splat Bombs and replaced the normal ink with black ink from the printer.

_'Hopefully Violet isn't planning on printing anything soon._' Victoria thought.

Unfortunately there was only enough ink to fill two Splat Bombs but it would do, Victoria wasn't planning on fighting her own race, but took those two splat bombs along just to be safe.

Next was her clothes, she couldn't walk around Inkopolis in Octoling armor, so she grabbed the Inkling clothes she had borrowed before, and left for Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack.

Meanwhile back in the Nautilus base, Octavia and several other Elites were waiting anxiously for the return of their fellow Elites, one by one, they got confirmation that they had returned from Inkopolis, and with another batch of prisoners too.

Like before they brought the new prisoners to Melanin Prison, and a few of them stayed behind to watch for Inkling activity.

Unfortunately for them they were so busy watching the manhole they did notice Victoria arriving behind them.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

Victoria had arrived just minutes after the latest squidnapping, however before she reached her destination she saw something that made her heart skip a beat.

Victoria froze, right there in front of her were two Elites.

'_Have I been caught already?'_ was Victoria's first thought

Luckily they hadn't noticed Victoria's arrival yet

'_What should I do? I only planned on telling Inker about Kal, I didn't plan on fighting my own people!'_

She might regret this later but now she had no choice, those Elites were watching Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, if they saw her they would probably send a squad to her apartment and she would be tried for treason, and they might even accuse Violet of being an accomplice. Plus they might have been waiting to ambush the Inklings when they arrived, Victoria had no other choice, she forced herself to get rid of these Elites.

Of course Victoria was just your normal Octoling, she could not take on two Elites, at least not in a fair fight.

Since they hadn't noticed her, Victoria took the element of surprise, the two Elites were lying down on their bellies to avoid being seen by the Cap'n, this meant it would take longer for them to get up and counterattack, plus they were close to each other so that they could whisper to one another.

Good thing Victoria paid so much attention in training otherwise she might not had succeeded here, of course back then she planned to use that knowledge to fight the Inklings, but now here she was about to splat two Elite Octolings in order to save an Inkling, the world works in mysterious ways.

A well placed Splat Bomb was all she needed here.

Just as predicted, the Elites noticed the Splat Bomb the moment it hit the ground, but before they could move away the bomb burst, splating both of them, leaving nothing but their equipment behind.

Victoria knew that Octoling goggles transmitted live footage back to base, so before doing anything else, she made sure they were destroyed without ever getting her face into view.

Back at the base, Octavia and the other Elites only saw the Elites get splatted, then somebody must have smashed their goggles because they lost the feed after that.

"Agent 3 must be here" Octavia concluded

Well she wasn't exactly wrong because Inker a.k.a Agent 3 would be coming in a moment.

Before that moment however Victoria had reached Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, she threw on the Satin Jacket over her Octoling armor and put on the Tentacles Helmet from before, that way she wouldn't spook anybody once she got to Inkopolis, shoes didn't matter because who looks at strangers' feet anyways?

'_For someone who gave the Octarian army so much trouble before, this guy can't seem to notice anything going on around him.' _Victoria thought as she approached Cap'n Cuttlefish, who did not even notice her yet.

Victoria couldn't have timed her arrival better, because at that moment Inker came bursting through the manhole, saving Victoria a trip to Inkopolis (where she would likely have gotten lost anyways).

Inker was here to speak with Cuttlefish again, he didn't expect to see what appeared to be an Inkling wearing a helmet.

Also the Cap'n was still busy eating Crabby Cakes to notice them.

'_How convenient, Agent 3 is here just in time, i'll just tell him to go the Melanin prison and-'_

"Excuse me, are you lost?" Inker asked

"_Huh?" _Victoria had forgotten that she was wearing Inkling clothing.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude but shouldn't you be in Inkopolis?" Inker had no idea this was Victoria wearing the Helmet she borrowed from Kal.

"Of course not, why would I be there?"

"Oh umm okay."

"_Why would an Inkling other than me Callie and Marie be here?"_ Inker wondered

"Wait a second, are you Neon?" Inker asked, remembering how badly Neon wanted in on the whole Agent business.

Victoria got angry, how could Agent 3 not remember her? And how could he mistake her for an Inkling?!

"DO I LOOK LIKE AN INKLING TO YOU!"

This finally caught Cap'n Cuttlefish's attention

"Whoa, when did y'all get here?" he asked, but Inker and Victoria didn't hear him

"Sorry, but you look like any Inkling with a Tentacles Helmet, I can't really tell what you are."

"Oh right! I forgot I was wearing that, heh heh, my bad!"

Victoria removed the Tentacles Helmet

Inker recognized her instantly "Victoria! Right I forgot you still had that from before."

And then Cap'n Cuttlefish scrambled to his feet

"OCTARIAN ATTACK! Agent 3 go defend Inkopolis, I'm takin' Octavio and doin' what we call a tactical retreat!"

"Calm down Cap'n, it's just Victoria."

"No it's an Octoling."

"Victoria is that Octoling from before, the one that wandered into Inkopolis, remember?"

'_I didn't just wander into Inkopolis!' _Victoria wanted to say, but right now saving face might cause more harm than good, so to draw attention away from her faults, she decided to draw attention to the Cap'n's.

"Speaking of Inkopolis, how do you manage to miss three teams of Octolings entering and exiting Inkopolis?"

"Hmm? I didn't see any Octolings passin' by"

'_Jeez this old squid is useless, why don't they put a proper armed guard here?'_ Victoria's opinion of Cap'n Cuttlefish was never very high to begin with, now this idiot couldn't even notice Elites taking prisoners from Inkopolis right under his nose (does Cap'n Cuttlefish even have a nose?).

Victoria's words caught Inker's attention

"Wait a sec, are you saying the Octarian army had been to Inkopolis recently?"

"Yes, that's what I came to tell you about."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I'm still part of the Octarian army, I can't just go around talking to Inklings and revealing military secrets."

"Kal has been missing for a week now! Secrets or not you should have told me earlier!"

"Now is not the time to be lecturing me, you need to go to Melanin prison now!"

"I'm on it!"

Inker had only swam two feet before he noticed a small issue

"Umm where is this Melanin prison anyways?"

"It's pretty far underground, the fastest way their would be you need to head upwards, enter the Kettle to the Rig, then find your way to the Undercity, then hea-"

Inker was feeling dizzy listening to all these directions

"How about you just show me the way."

"No way, I can't be seen with the feared Agent 3."

"Feared?"

"There are all sorts of silly rumors circulating in Octo Valley."

"Is that why you were so scared of me when we first met?"

"I wasn't scared! not of you or anyone in Inkopolis!"

"Of course you weren't." Inker said sarcastically "but how will I find my way through Octo Valley then?"

"You did it before didn't you? When you stole the Zapfish."

'_You were the ones who stole the Zapfish'_ Inker wanted to say, but Cap'n Cuttlefish beat him too it.

"The Zapfish were ours to begin with! You Inklings are the real thieves!" Victoria shouted back.

Now was not the time to get sidetracked so Inker answered Victoria's question "Well the Zapfishes were always left pretty close to the Kettles, so I never needed to go far into Octo Valley, in fact I'd probably get lost if I tried finding my own way."

If Inker got lost deep inside Octo Valley it could cause a panic, especially if anyone saw him, it would be best if he was kept out of sight.

Knowing this, Victoria reluctantly agreed.

"Alright I guess I owe you, but you better stay out of sight, I have a life in Octo Valley and I don't want you ruining it!"

"Jeez I get it, i'll make sure nobody sees me, can't be too hard right?"

Inker equipped the Hero Suit and Hero Shot, then followed Victoria into the first Kettle, unfortunately it would seem that Inker had a totally different idea in mind when he said he would keep out of sight.

"Stop spreading your ink all over the ground!" Victoria tried her best to keep quiet

"Why not? I need to keep out of sight right?" Inker said, poking his head out of his ink in squid form

"Exactly so stop leaving a trail of ink everywhere!"

"How am I supposed to hide then?"

In previous missions in Octo Valley, Inker snuck around by inking turf and hiding in it so that the Octarians could not see him, but in this case they needed to hide the fact that he was even in Octo Valley to begin with, and to do that Inker could not be leaving blue ink everywhere.

"Just stay close, and don't go out in the open." Victoria said, hoping that the blue ink would disappear soon.

"But covering turf is important in combat."

"This isn't like before when you fought a few Zapfish guards, right now if anyone sees you the whole damn army is going to come marching over here and I have no intention of being seen as a traitor!"

"But isn't that what you are doing right now?"

"Shut up! I'm just returning a favor, be grateful that i'm helping you instead of warning my splatoon."

A few minutes later another problem popped up.

"Uh oh I forgot why I came here in the first place."

"What that?"

"Marie asked me to see why the Cap'n hadn't been needing groceries recently."

"Seriously, how is that more important than rescuing your friend?"

"Don't worry this will only take a second."

The Squid phone had no reception in Octo Valley, but Inker could at least talk to the Cap'n through comms.

"Cap'n, agents 1&2 are worried, you haven't be-"

"Munch munch munch"

"Cap'n are you listening?"

Victoria pulled Inker's headgear off.

"Just ignore him, we need to keep moving otherwise we won't get to the prison in time!"

"Alright fine, just give me back my headgear, wait! I promised Neon I'd bring her along if I planned on doing any missions in Octo Valley."

Victoria was getting impatient

"Seriously you are full of distractions, you can impress your girlfriend later, come on! It's a long way to Melanin prison by foot, and we can't have you taking public transportation."

"Alright alright i'm coming, and fyi; Neon is not my girlfriend."

"Whatever, just keep up with me."

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

"Woomy! I'm going to be an S+ in no time!" Neon had just finished a Ranked battle.

"Did you just get to S right now?" Sky, who had spectated the match from a blimp, asked.

"Yep! And at this rate I'll be at the top in no time!"

"You know you will only be facing stronger opponents now right?"

"Of course I do! It's more of a challenge! I can't wait!"

Neon was glowing with excitement, then again when was she not?

Sky on the other hand lacked experience so he always tried to make up for it with careful thinking.

"You should probably try something other than a charger type weapon now, since you always seem to be so aggressive."

"I'll fight my own way, speaking of which where Inker? I'm S overall and he is still A+ I want to rub it in his face!"

"I doubt he'd really care since he doesn't seem to worry about winning or losing."

"Yeah yeah hold on i'm texting him now."

They waited for quite a while and still no response

"He's not back yet maybe?"

"I don't think a quick visit to Octo Valley would take that long."

"Octo Valley eh!" A voice boomed from behind

It was Det. Vert again, when did he get here?

"So that's where your criminal friend is hiding."

"What are you talking about?" Sky asked

"None of your concern." Vert turned away and hurried to the precinct.

"What is up with him?" Neon wondered

Her question was answered soon enough as Inkopolis News time came to tv screens across Inkopolis, and with it another report of more missing squids.

* * *

**Precinct 15, Inkopolis**

Vert addressed a team of four officers

"Alright, the suspect is an Inkling named Inker, he was previously suspected of squidnapping but we let our eyes off him when another Inkling confessed, he is now hiding in Octo Valley, pack your stuff, we are moving out in ten minutes."

"Are we allowed to go into Octo Valley? I mean it's not our territory." an officer asked

"Of course it is, after all we own the land above them, plus the Octarains have been quiet for a long time now, I'm sure there will be no problem." Vert assured his men

It's a shame that the New Squidbeak Splatoon couldn't make it's exploits public, if they did what happened next could have been prevented.

The officers and Vert marched right into Octo Valley, ignoring Cap'n Cuttlefish's warning not to proceed.

"The Octarians will not do anything stupid, otherwise what happened in the last war would happen again." Vert declared, believing in the superiority of his race.

They had no idea where they were going, so they started from the first kettle, making their way into Octarian cities.

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

"Acting leader! A group of Inklings are combing through the lairs, the troopers stationed there cannot communicate with them, what should we do?"

Octavia smiled

"Interesting, they think they can walk around our territory without consequence? I think i'll have a little word with them."

* * *

A/N: so apparently Inklings are unable to change form until they are at least 14, but I wanted to have one of the prisoners be very young to make the Octarians seem more ruthless in their quest for revenge, so Lila is going to be an eleven year old who can already change to kid form. Second note: you may recall Victoria referring to her military unit as a "squadron" in Behind Enemy Lines, however in this chapter she says "splatoon" this is because before I made this chapter, I did not know that "squadron" referred to an air force squad, since Victoria and probably no other Octarian, pilots fighter aircraft I changed it to 'splatoon"


	5. Sneaking About

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

"Wow look at this place! It so different from the rest of Octo Valley"

Inker and Victoria had managed to sneak into the Undercity without anyone noticing them, where Inker marveled at the city he had never seen before, well he did see some Octarian cities before, but none that was still inhabitable..

"Keep quiet, people are going to be coming home from work soon, it will be even more difficult to move around unseen!"

The two had been moving in the back alleys and keeping off the main streets, so when Inker finally had the chance to see the main streets it felt like a whole new world, he was partially amazed at what was underneath Inkopolis all this time, and partially worried about the state of all the buildings.

While it was amazing that this huge city could have been underneath Inkopolis this whole time, the buildings did not seem anything like the ones in Inkopolis, some had windows boarded up, others were miscoloured and faded, and some had cracks in their walls.

"Umm those towers won't collapse would they?" Inker asked pointing at a bunch of large skyscrapers (actually since they are underground should they be called groundscrapers?) which appeared to be in poor condition.

"Probably"

"What do you mean by "probably"?"

"It probably will collapse"

"What? Are there still Octarians inside?"

"Yep"

"That sounds dangerous, if it's in such bad shape why isn't that place evacuated?"

"Every building is like that here, evacuating one won't do anything since they'll just be killed by falling debris or other buildings regardless."

Inker blinked, he knew Octo Valley was in bad shape but he never expected it to be this bad.

Not only that but the way Victoria reacted showed that the Octarians don't seem to care about life as much as the Inklings do, or maybe it was because Octo Valley became so unsafe that they couldn't bring themselves to care anymore and accepted it as a part of life?

A few more minutes of sneaking around passed then Victoria had a change of plan.

"We aren't going to make it out of the city in time."

"What do you mean?'

"I told you, people are going to be getting off work soon right? How can we move around when the streets are clogged with octopuses trying to get home?"

"Do I really need to stay hidden that badly?"

"Of course you do."

Victoria took off Inker's headgear and put the Tentacles Helmet on him

"Why do I need to wear this all of a sudden?"

"I'm taking you to my apartment for now, hopefully if someone sees us they won't guess that you are an Inkling."

"I thought the whole idea was not to be seen."

"There is quite a lot of families living in this apartment building, no guarantee you won't be spotted."

Unlike the more modern apartment buildings where there was a front office where all payments are made and mail arrives, this building was of a much older design, it was open to everyone, there was no lobby or elevator, just stairs which led to a single room on each level.

Victoria's apartment was the first one, she hastily unlocked the door and Inker quietly ran inside.

"Okay you stay here for now, we will move again at night."

"How can you tell when it's night time down here?" Inker asked

"Good question, even I don't know, probably just Octarian instinct."

Octo Valley was underground so there was no way they could see the sky, the Octarians just seemed to go to sleep when it felt like the correct time and still manage to wake up at the correct time each morning.

Victoria turned to leave

"Where are you going now?"

"I have a roommate so I need to find her and let her know that you are staying here, otherwise who knows what would happen if she came home and saw you here."

'_What kind of rumors have the Octarian army been spreading about me?' _Inker wondered

"Anyways i'll be back soon, don't go anywhere!"

'_I'm getting a sense of deja vu'_

* * *

**Another part of Octo Valley**

"Halt!"

Octavia and an escort of two Elite Octolings confronted Det. Vert and his team

"What business do you have in Octo Valley"

"Finally someone who isn't speaking gibberish" one of the officers muttered

It would appear that the officers did not know that only Octolings could communicate with Inklings.

Vert stepped forward

"I am detective Vert with the Inkopolis police department, we are looking for this Inkling, and we have reason to believe he is in Octo Valley."

He showed a surveillance photo of Inker in Inkopolis chatting with Neon and Sky.

'_Agent 3, so he is definitely here, perfect.'_

"Can you make contact with your superiors or something and help us find him? It would be much appreciated."

"There is no one currently ranking above me, I am Acting Leader Octavia and I'm leading what's left of Octo Valley's army."

"Well that's a surprise, maybe you can help us out."

"Sure, may I have that picture so I can inform the population to be alert?"

"Of course, anything to speed up the process."

Vert handed over the picture of Inker.

"What about the other two Inklings?" Octavia asked pointing at Neon and Sky.

"They are his friends, but they are back in Inkopolis and are not under suspicion."

'_Could those two be Agents as well? Come to think of the the blue one is Agent 3 so these two could be Agents 1&2.'_

"Well then I better get back to base and spread the news, I'll let you know if anything pops up."

"We thank you for your cooperation."

Vert stuck a hand out to Octavia, and the two shook hands, he and his officers were so busy with Octavia they did not notice a flying saucer floating behind them, carrying five Octosnipers onboard.

"And we wish you a safe trip back to Inkopolis." Octavia replied

Now five lasers targeted an Inkling each, they were pointed at the back of their heads, execution style, so that they would never see it coming.

Once they were done their handshake Octavia gave a slight nod.

This was the signal they had been waiting for.

The officers had no idea what was in store of them, but Vert noticed Octavia's nod, his instinct told him something was up, he spun around but it was too late. As soon as Octavia turned away five shots rang out, the Inklings were reduced to puddles.

"Well look at that! You actually didn't miss for once!" the saucer's pilot, who happened to be Kevin teased one of the Octosnipers.

"I told you I don't miss."

They seemed to have enjoyed this small taste of action.

Meanwhile Octavia and her Elites begun swimming back to the Nautillus base, and they now had confirmation that Agent 3 was here.

Now it was time to prepare for his arrival.

* * *

**Melanin prison, Octo valley**

The days passed one by one, Kal and Lila spent their days cooped up in a cell, living off nothing but seaweed.

Occasionally Kal and Lila would talk about their life in Inkopolis, and since he wasn't so sure that he could be rescued in time Kal told Lila a fictional story of Agent 3.

Of course Kal didn't know exactly what happened, so he changed it to make it sound more like an adventure story.

These were tales of an Inkling who started off simply wanting to help his people, but then ended up learning both sides of the story, eventually he had to try and make things right on both sides.

Kal assumed Inker would like to have been portrayed like that.

"All of a sudden the saucer with the boss kettle begun to spin, it swirled and twirled, it made Agent 3 dizzy, he couldn't tell that the saucer was moving at an extremely high speed. Finally it stopped, Agent 3 picked himself up, dusted of his hero suit and looked up, right in front of him was the Great Zapfish, he was about to move when a voice rang out through the darkness, STAY BACK AGENT 3! IT'S A TRAP! It was Cap'n Cuttlefish. just then the Great Zapfish was sucked away by a giant flying machine, piloting it was none other than DJ Octavio, the leader of the Octarians."

Lila was fully concentrated on the story, she envisioned a Hero Shot wielding Inkling, standing on a rooftop somewhere, the sun rising behind him, blacking out his face and making him nothing but a silhouette watching over Inkopolis.

Could someone like that exist? If so were they aware of what's going on here?

POUND POUND POUND

"Storytime's over, I want a word with you, red."

It was one of the Octolings who guarded their cell at night, why was she here in the afternoon?

Well since she asked for "red" she clearly wanted to speak to Kal, so Kal got up, walked over to the door and listened.

"You were saying alot os things about Agent 3 just now, were you telling the truth?"

She must have been listening for a while.

"Well I don't know exactly what happened, that's just a story I made up based on what I know."

Kal couldn't tell what the Octoling was thinking, she simply stared on, why was she asking Kal about Agent 3?

"Wait, don't tell we you want to listen to my story too?"

"Don't be silly. Tell me, how well do you know Agent 3?"

'_Should I lie about Inker? I don't see a reason to do so. Also why is this Octoling here all of a sudden?'_

"The two of us are best friends, we have known each other since we were little squids."

"So you think he will be coming to rescue you as soon as possible?"

'_How should I respond, If I say yes would they just get rid of me quicker? Or maybe they'll get scared? After all Victoria said there were crazy rumors here, even one about Inker being a cyborg killer. Then again if I do draw attention to myself it could buy Lila some more time, ohh man I want to go back to Inkopolis, but I don't want that poor girl suffering from the same fate as Bogs did.'_

"Yes"

"Good, that was all I needed to know."

The Octoling shut off the two way and walked off.

"What was that about?" Lila asked

"Who knows."

"Is Agent 3 real?"

'_Aww crud now the truth is out, oh well I might not make it out of here anyways.'_

"Yes"

"Then the stories you have been telling me, they are real too?"

"Mostly yes, I don't know exactly what happened anyways."

"So there is a hero in Inkopolis! Will he be coming to save us like he saved the Zapfish!"

Kal wasn't sure if Inker was coming or not, if he was he'd have probably came by now, then again maybe he just didn't know where he was?

"Yes, he will be here soon, there is nothing to fear here, in a few days you will be back in Inkopolis with your family."

Those words filled Lila with hope, a hero would be coming soon! A real hero!

As for Kal he was still worried, maybe even scared, Lila would be easy to comfort since she was younger and naturally more naive, but Kal had to think, if Inker really was coming why is he taking so long? And if he didn't come what hope was there left? Maybe Victoria? On second thought probably not, she seemed to be worried more about her own reputation, plus there was no reason for her to come right?

Kal remembered Neon, she had being joking around, pretending that he and Victoria were a couple, no matter how many time he denied it Neon's answer was "I still ship it!" or "You do have feelings for her!" was she just teasing or was she serious? If she was then maybe Victoria would come!

'_Yeah right, what can a single Octoling do against a whole army of them?'_ Kal shot down his own idea

Meanwhile Lila had noticed something, she didn't say anything but she had noticed something about Kal, he seemed to be worried, he must have been just as scared as her yet he was doing his best to keep calm and assure her everything was fine. Lila had never really done much on her own, her family was always with her, now in a place where they couldn't reach her she was scared at first, Bogs and Kal were complete strangers so they looked scary at first, but now Kal's behavior reminded her of her brother Laven.

The Octoling who had just spoken to Kal reported back to the captain of the guard.

"It's true, that Inkling knows Agent 3."

"Really, so you checked all his movements? micro expressions? The tone of his voice?"

"Yes, I am positive he is not lying."

"Perfect, we needed bait for the troublesome Agent 3, and by sheer luck we have had some great bait right here this whole time!"

"What now captain?"

"Keep the red one alive and well, I'll let the Acting Leader know of this news."

"What about the other ones?"

"I'll decide later."

* * *

**Victoria's apartment, Octo Valley**

Victoria's apartment was in pretty good condition, at least by Octo Valley's standards, but to Inker who was used to living in his own home in Inkopolis, Victoria's place was awful.

The walls were uneven and looked like they had been hastily patched, the lights flickered every now and then and the floor creaked, at least it was a clean place to stay.

Inker was going to use the washroom but then he found out that unlike in Inkopolis, the faucet only dispensed one color of ink, the Octarians' dark magenta ink.

He would probably hurt himself if he washed his hands using that.

Inker thought maybe the shower would be different, he turned on the shower, letting it spray ink into the tub.

The shower was no different, it only sprayed dark magenta ink, unless one was a dark magenta Inkling (which nobody has ever seen before) or an Octarian, taking a shower here would be like hitting yourself with a Heavy Splatling.

This also meant that Inker could not turn off the shower, well he probably could, but who knew how much damage a shower did? After all nobody has ever used a showerhead for a weapon.

Out of options Inker decided to use some of the ink from his Ink Tank to wash up.

Meanwhile Violet had came back from work early, the first thing she heard was the shower running.

'_Victoria must have gotten home early too.' _she thought

Having finished in the washroom, Inker put his Ink Tank back on, grabbed his Hero Shot, and left the washroom.

Because of the noise of the shower, neither Inker nor Violet heard the other one's footsteps, so neither of them were expecting anything when Inker left the washroom and bumped into Violet.

'_Ow' _Inker rubbed his forehead

He then noticed the purple haired Octoling in front of him '_Oh this must be Victoria's roommate, when did she get here?'_

Violet on the other hand was nowhere near as calm as Inker, like any Octarian who kept up with the news she heard all sorts of things about Agent 3; the blue Inkling who swept through the troops in the lairs, the one who annihilated every Octarian standing in his way, the merciless executioner with unimaginable speed and accuracy, the one who was believed to be part machine, the one Inkling that the army could not stop from stealing the Zapfish.

Of course those were just rumors, but since nobody in Octo Valley ever denied the rumors, everyone believed them. (because Victoria didn't want to look like she was easily defeated so she pretended that Inker was as terrifying as the rumors had claimed.)

Violet's strength left her body, her eyes wide with fear, she fell to the ground, she opened her mouth but could not find the strength to even scream.

Violet went "Ahh, ahh." which was nowhere near audible.

Meanwhile Inker was confused, why did this Octoling just sit down on the floor right in front of him?

There had been scary images of Agent 3 that were based on rumors, those images had been shown on Octo Valley news and they were now filling Violet's mind.

Why was this tentacled terror in her apartment? And what was he planning? Victoria might be part of the Octarian army but Violet had no affiliation with the army but would the infamous Agent 3 care?

In Violet's mind this was like a scenario in a movie about a murderer or hitman, who planned to splat one target but ended up silencing an innocent passerby who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Was this how her life ended? Splatted out of nowhere by the ruthless killer known as Agent 3?

"Are you okay?" Inker asked, with a confused expression on his face.

'_Huh?'_ Violet was surprised, did Agent 3 just ask if she was okay? Didn't Agent 3 hate all Octarians? Maybe this is not Agent 3 but a regular blue Inkling?

Violet looked up at the Inkling from her place on the ground.

There was a picture drawn of Agent 3 that had been on Octo Valley news when DJ Octavio was defeated, it showed an Inkling with blue tentacles wearing a black and yellow suit, holding a sleek looking gun, he had his foot planted on a dying Octotrooper, while an injured Octoling desperately tried to crawl away from the barrel of the agent's weapon. Right now, the Inkling standing above her looked just like that, no doubt about it, this was Agent 3.

But still, he didn't act like the Agent 3 in that picture, Violet was still scared but was calm enough to talk after Inker's last comment

"I don't have anything to do with the army, it's not me you're after, please just let me go! I won't tell anyone you're here!" Violet's words was nothing other than a cry for mercy, she even clapped her hands together as if to beg for her life, despite all this she was still expecting Agent 3 to shoot her to keep her quiet.

Now Inker was more confused than ever '_What does she mean by that? I haven't done anything wrong, have I? Maybe I should ask her that.'_

"Umm I didn't do anything to scare you did I?" Inker gave a friendly smile to show that he didn't mean to frighten anyone.

"Huh? wh-what?"

Now Violet was confused too "You are Agent 3 right?" she said in a shaky voice

"Umm yeah."

A picture of the rumored Agent 3 formed in Violet's head, then next to it was the one in front of her, giving her a friendly smile and not looking as menacing as she first thought. '_Are these two really the same guy?' _she wondered.

While Inker was still confused as to why this Octoling was behaving the way she was, he could tell that she was scared.

"Hey i'm not here to hurt anyone so just relax a bit okay." Inker tried his best to look non intimidating in Violet's eyes, dropping his Hero Shot in the process.

Violet begun to calm down, seeing that Agent 3 was telling the truth.

Violet had somewhat recovered when Victoria returned.

"Violet! I was looking all over for you! You didn't tell me you'd get off work early."

"Sorry about that." Violet looked at Inker before speaking to Victoria again "umm, do you mind telling me; what the heck you were thinking?!"

"I wanted to tell you beforehand but I couldn't find you, he didn't do anything creepy did he?"

'_Why would I do anything creepy?' _Inker wondered

"Well no, but I was scared to death! Why is Agent 3 here in our apartment?!"

"Shh quiet please, I know you're scared but we can't have anyone hearing you, Agent 3 is just staying here while the streets are crowded, he'll be gone before you know it."

"That's not the problem here! What will people think of us when they find out that we let our worst enemy stay with us!?"

"It will be fine, we just need to keep quiet and nobody will know what happened today."

Violet sighed "I sure hope you're right, I don't want the cops or army kicking down our door tomorrow."

"Like I said, everything will be fine, Inker is….. Trying his best to stay hidden."

"Inker? That's his real name?_"_ It would appear that Inklings and Octarians were named differently because Violet thought the name "Inker" was hilarious, and would have laughed if she wasn't still somewhat scared.

Victoria realised she had yet to introduce the two

"Right I forgot, Violet this is Inker a.k.a Agent 3, Inker this is my roommate Violet."

"Nice to meet you" Inker said "Sorry about spooking you earlier, I guess nobody expects to see an Inkling around here."

"No it's probably just cause it's you." Victoria replied

"Huh what's that mean?"

"Kal never told you the rumors?"

"Well no, I do remember you telling me about rumors, but you never told me in detail."

"Well it's all pretty ridiculous I don't know who started em."

'_So this guy is definitely Agent 3 huh, I remember Victoria saying she had fought with him during her time in Inkopolis'_ Violet watched Inker and Victoria talk, Victoria had not the slightest trace of worry in her voice nor her expressions, while Inker had that same smile on his face, he wasn't concerned either, one could even say they looked like friends.

'_I thought Agent 3 was a mass murderer of Octarians, why is he now having a casual conversation with Victoria?'_

Violet watched Inker laugh as Victoria told him of Octarian rumors regarding him.

'_This isn't anything like the Agent 3 I have heard of.'_

"Anyways back to business, you should probably stay here until night time, we Octarians follow similar schedules so there should be no one left awake past ten."

"Alright, no reason to rush on ahead I guess?"

"Right" Victoria realized, she had not told him of the death of one of the prisoners, after all if it turned out to be Kal who died Inker would definitely blame her for not telling him earlier and even if he didn't Victoria would blame herself.

* * *

**Inkopolis**

Laven sat in a cold cell alone, there were not many criminals in Inkopolis but now everyone would definitely see him as one.

His face was probably all over the news now, part of him wanted to maintain his innocence, but another part of him said "I deserve this for bringing Lila to that game."

He was now awaiting trial, his parents wanted him to fight it, maybe they knew he was innocent? Or maybe they couldn't bear to lose both their children? Regardless Laven had no plans of maintaining his innocence, after all what good would it do now? Lila is gone, and he was known everywhere as the Inkling who helped abduct his own sister, even if he was proven innocent nobody would ever look at him the same.

"You're free to go."

'_What was that? Did I just hear someone say something?'_

Laven had not realized the guard who had spoken, nor did he notice his cell was open.

"Umm kid, I said you're free to go."

Laven did not believe that, no because he still blamed himself, he wanted to stay in jail.

The guard snapped his fingers in front of Laven's face getting his attention.

"You're free to go now."

"I am?"

"Yes, at least for now."

"But why? I told you i'm the one to blame."

"We aren't exactly letting you free, but Det, Vert was following a lead on a second bunch of missing squids which led him to Octo Valley along with several other officers working your case. None of them ever reported back, so now he is missing in action, without him there is no case against you, so you are free until Vert shows up again. However we will be monitoring your movements so don't think you can leave Inkopolis."

Like that Laven walked free again, but deep down he still felt like he should be imprisoned.

Everywhere he went, it felt like people were watching and whispering about him, it felt like nobody who ever dare talk with him.

To Laven Inkopolis changed the day Lila went missing, everything changed for the worse.

* * *

On a happier side of Inkopolis, Neon and Sky were going around Booyah Base, they decided that since they didn't have much to do now they could spend some of the money they had on some new equipment.

Following Neon's advice Sky had brought an Inkbrush for his next game of turf, Neon on the other hand had been busy looking through Chargers but ended up not buying anything.

"We should head to the clothes store next, can't always depend on Spyke to find gear for us."

"Well well, you're going clothes shopping with me? I hope you're not planning anything weird, like peeking on me while I change!" Neon joked

Sky was as unamused as he could get, and he gave no answer.

"Ahh you're no fun! You're boring to play Turf with, so at least have some sort of a reaction!"

"Am I supposed to?"

"Yes of course! Remember how Kal reacted when I said he and that Octoling were a couple? His reaction was hilarious! Or that time I put pepper in your ink shake? Gotcha! Or the time I went to Booyah base with Inker and said the same thing I just did to you? Inker looked so embarrassed, it was awesome!"

"Ahh I remember the pepper ink shake, kinda ticks me off now that I think about it."

"You're so dull, you need to lighten up a bit, it's all harmless fun!"

"Harmless for you, and here I thought you only liked Ranked Battles."

"I just like having fun! Ranked battles are just the only thing I take seriously."

"Really, cause you never seem to like anything that doesn't involve some sort of violence."

"Nobody actually gets hurt in Turf Wars, like I said; harmless fun!"

"Weren't you the one who keeps trying to go to Octo Valley to fight the Octarain army?"

"Yeah but they respawn too right?"

"Who knows, unless the entire Octo Valley aera is a turf war map I doubt anyone can respawn there, so stick to stupid pranks and ranked matches for now."

"Hmm, okay I guess."

"Oh and by the way, if Inker reacted to what you said earlier, it means he likes you."

"Ha ha ha!" Neon laughed at what she thought was a joke.

Sky didn't laugh.

"Waitwaitwait?! Are you serious!?" Neon panicked

Now it was Sky's turn to point at laugh "Gotcha!"

"-_-"

"Hey speaking of which, shouldn't Inker be back by now?"

When Inker had left it was almost noon, but now the late afternoon and the day was almost over.

Since Inker was in Octo Valley he had no way of contacting his friends to let them know he was staying in Octo Valley for a while.

Neon's eyes lit up as she jumped to conclusions "Inker is trapped in Octo Valley! We have to go and rescue him!"

'_Did you forget about what I just said about no respawning in Octo Valley?' Sky thought_

Neon was about to run off, but Sky held her back.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to grab my E-Liter of course!"

"Inker is amazing at Turf Wars, plus he said he took on the Octarian army once before, he should be fine."

"Really? Then why isn't he back for his errand?"

"Maybe something came up, or maybe that so called detective found and arrested him, regardless he is probably fine."

"I know! How about we go to Octo Valley and check!"

"No, let's just check the precinct tomorrow, going to Octo Valley should be the last thing we do."

"Fine, but if he's not back by tomorrow, im dashing off to Octo Valley regardless of what you or anyone else says."

'_She seems hell bent on fighting in Octo Valley, how does someone find amusement from something like that? Everything else aside Neon is great with her Chargers but if she really gets into a match shes gets too aggressive, what would happen to her if she ended up in a situation where Chargers are useless? Could I do anything to help?'_

Of course the truth was clear to Sky

'_Both Inker and Neon are better than me, I doubt i'll be much help, but I don't want to be left out again, what should I do?'_

Sky would need to make a decision, whether or not he should be going to Octo Valley, of course there was still a chance that Inker would be back, then Neon would have no excuse to go to Octo Valley.

* * *

**Victoria's apartment, Octo Valley**

The food in Octo Valley was different to say the least, specifically it lacked flavor, or maybe it's because of the recipe? At least it was plentiful.

Inker, Victoria and Violet had their dinner together, Violet had quite alot of questions, but was still somewhat afraid of Inker so she decided to wait until he left to ask them.

Victoria was wishing that Inker would eat faster so he could get to Melanin prison in time.

Inker on the other hand was still wondering why Kal and other Inklings had been captured in the first place, he thought that maybe the incident that happened two months ago might have had something to do with it, but Victoria said that Kal's name and appearance was never mentioned.

They may have squidnapped his friend, but Inker still hoped that the Octarians and Inklings could stop fighting, in order to do that he needed to find the reason behind the Octarian Army's latest actions, unfortunately Victoria couldn't answer that either.

"Don't ask me, i'm just a low ranking Octoling, you would need to find an Elite or some other high ranking officer for an answer."

"Don't you know anyone in the army would could know?"

"There's one guy, but he's an Octostriker and ever since Octavia took control she made the Elite Octolings top brass."

Nothing could be answered now, yet Inker wanted some sort of idea for why Kal was captured.

Victoria began to wonder too "If I were to guess, it's reconnaissance by fire."

"Reakonna what?"

"Reconnaissance by fire, didn't you learn about it in training?"

To Victoria, Inker was a highly skilled enemy soldier, so she assumed he must have gone through some sort of Inkling military training and classes after all, the soldiers of Octo Valley had all gone through at least basic training.

This was not the case with Inker, or any Inkling, in fact most if not all of them learned to fight better and better from playing Turf Wars, so naturally Inker's response was: "What training?"

Victoria's opinion of him lowered a bit "Didn't you go through some sort of training program to become Agent 3?"

"Umm not really, I just happened to run into Cap'n Cuttlefish right after the Zapfish thefts and he made me an Agent on the spot."

"Really, then how do you explain your skill for combat? Don't tell me you are just a natural born fighter."

"Well I played Turf Wars a lot, I guess that had something to do with it?"

"Turf Wars?"

"It's a sport, or kind of a game too, two teams compete to cover most of the map in their own Ink; either by shooting the ground, or splatting the other team's players, it's alot of fun, and there's rewards for winning too!."

The problem with Inker's description was that he didn't mention how the maps were designed to prevent anyone from permanently dying, so to Victoria and Violet, Turf Wars was some sort of gladiatorial death match.

'_The Inklings splat each other for fun and games? I guess there is some benefit to that, it ensures that only the strongest survive to breed the next generation, Octo Valley itself is similar in a sense, since the strong survive and the weak die to all sorts of dangers, though its not as savage as straight up splatting your fellow sea creatures.'_ was Victoria's thought.

Violet on the other hand only got a bit more scared of Inker seeing how he talked so casually about splatting other Inklings while showing no remorse.

'_He's a psychopath?!' _Violet thought

Still they were getting off topic, since Inker didn't know what reconnaissance by fire was, Victoria decided to explain it to him:

"Well anyways, reconnaissance by fire is a military tactic were we purposely try to provoke enemy forces into retaliating in order to see what their reaction is, Octavia keeps saying something about bring the Inklings here, so I'm guessing she wants to find out what kind of response she can get from nabbing Inklings."

"Wait but doesn't that mean Octavia would need to publicly announce that the Octarians squidnapped Kal and the others"

"Like I said it's just my guess, I don't know exactly what her plans are."

Victoria got up and glanced out the window, there were less and less Octarians on the streets now, soon it would be time to move again, hopefully they can get there in time.

Well they still had to wait a bit, so it was time to talk about other things.

"So Violet, how was your day?"

"Somewhat easier than most days, today was falling debris from a twenty story hotel, fortunately only two Octarians died this time." Violet always tried to remain cheerful despite living in Octo Valley, plus Agent 3 was in the room so she didn't want to do anything that might irritate him, so she said this with a smile.

"That's great!"

Victoria understood how uncommon it was for less than five Octarians to die in an accident but Inker did not, as fatal accidents were extremely rare in Inkopolis. Seeing how the one called Violet looked so happy when talking about two Octarians dying Inker thought that maybe she wasn't good at her job?

"That's awful!" Inker blurted out "How is it fourtunate when two living sea creatures died?"

Victoria could somewhat understand what Inker was talking about, as she knew by now that there was a big difference between Octo Valley standards and Inkopolis standards so she didn't say anything.

Violet on the other hand was so used to seeing unfortunate Octarians die from accidents that she believed that having zero casualties was impossible, so she could not understand what Inker meant.

Not only that but why did Inker even care about two random Octarians dying? He was Agent 3 after all, he probably killed way more during his Zapfish thefts.

"Two died how is that not fortunate?"

It's a shame that Violet didn't say only two, because now Inker believed that Violet wanted two to die.

'_Sadistic, just looking at her gives me the chills now.'_

"Well umm, good job I guess" Inker wanted out of this conversation as soon as possible "Victoria, shouldn't we get going?"

"Not yet, there will still be some slower Octarians hanging around outside."

"Can't we just avoid them?"

"Nope, I'm not taking that risk, if were spotted i'd have to shoot you."

They spent the next twenty minutes talking, mostly to Victoria, as Violet thought that Inker was a psychopath, and Inker thought Violet was some sort of sadist, so the two avoided conversation with each other.

Finally Victoria decided the streets were clear, she and Inker said goodbye to Violet and the two set off for Melanin prison once again.

* * *

A/N: whenever one of my stories is planned to be more than ten chapters long I like to make a list of OCs every five chapters. in each list, only the characters that appeared in the last five chapters will be listed.

* * *

Characters from Squidnapped (chapters 1-5):

Inklings:

Kalus: (also known as Kal) Red Inkling boy and Inker's best freind, like your average Inkling, Kalus enjoys turf wars and takes a more casual approach to it. Kal was captured by the Octarians and currently resides in Melanin prison.

Inker: (also known as Agent 3) Blue Inkling boy and Kalus' best friend, he previously defeated the Octarian army and captured DJ Octavio, thus he is a skilled and experienced combattant. Believing that Inklings and Octarians should not be natural born enemies, Inker wishes to make peace between the two races someday, a task made hard by the Octarian army's blind hatred of the Inklings.

Neon: Green Inkling girl and a friend of Inker, Kalus, and Sky, known for being full of energy and being competitive in turf wars. Ever since the encounter with the Mighty Octostomp and learning of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, Neon has become eager to test her skills against the Octarian army, regardless of the danger it might pose.

Sky: Cyan Inkling boy and friend of Inker, Kalus and Neon, the youngest and least experienced fighter of the group. He tends to trust Inker most out of the group and is self conscious about his lack of experience and fighting ability, this leads to him staying away from dangerous situations.

Laven: Light purple Inkling boy, his sister Lila was taken by the Octarians. Because he cared so deeply about his sister's well being, Laven ended up blaming himself for the squidnappings, going so far as to make a false confession to the Inkopolis police.

Lila: Light purple Inkling girl, Laven's sister who was squidnapped by the Octarians. Since birth, Lila was said to be "gifted" as she learned and grew faster than other Inklings, because of this, her family believed she could play turf wars three years earlier than others, unfortunately her first match resulted in her capture by the Octarians.

Vert: Adult Inkling and a Detective for the Inkopolis PD. Vert was assigned the case of the missing squids, unfortunately due to a lack of serious criminal offenses in Inkopolis, neither him or any other cops in Inkopolis know how to properly deal with the situation. Vert believed that the Octarians wouldn't dare start another Great Turf War, so he and several other officers entered Octo Valley to search for Inker. He met his demise when Octavia ordered Octosnipers to eliminate him and all the other officers.

Bogs: Orange Inkling boy, he was one of the first three Inklings to be squidnapped along with Kal and Lila, he tried to provoke the guards into fighting him, believing that he could fight his way out of prison but failed. Since he was bigger and stronger than Kal and Lila, Bogs was the first to be thrown into the boiling pit, where he perished.

Octarians:

Victoria: Octoling, despite learning that Inklings aren't as bad as they seemed, Victoria still kept her job as a soldier, however she feels indebted to Kal and Inker for getting her out of Inkopolis safely. Believing that a second Great Turf War would not bring the Octarians any good, Victoria does not agree with Octavia's decision to provoke Inklings into attacking Octo Valley.

Octavia: Elite Octoling, the new Octarian leader following DJ Octavio's defeat. Octavia balmes the Inklings of all of Octo Valley's problems and thus wishes to punish the entire race and bring the Octarians back to the surface by force.

Violet: Purple Octoling, Unlike Victoria, who must remain maroon coloured by Octarian army standards, Violet is not involved with the Octarian army. As an Octo Valley citizen, Violet has heard of the Octarian rumors surrounding Agent 3, and thus was terrified of him.

The Captain of the guard: Elite Octoling, a high ranking Octoling in charge of Melanin prison, like Octavia and the majority of Octarians, she believes that Inklings are heartless creatures and seems to enjoy their suffering claiming it to be "justice".

Kevin: Octostriker, a minor character and part of Victoria's splatoon, he loves to chat with his squadmates and will sometimes give away information that is supposed to remain classified.


	6. Powerless

**Part 2: Rescue (chapters 6-10)**

_With Melanin prison in sight, rescue seems close for Kalus, Lila and the many others who have been squidnapped, but can Inker really rescue everyone by himself? Sometimes a little help is needed._

* * *

**Melanin prison, Octo Valley**

Two Elites had fallen in the line of duty, they had been attacked from behind while surveying the manhole to Inkopolis, Octavia was furious and immediately blamed it on Agent 3.

Meanwhile the captain of Melanin prison had informed Octavia of Kal's friendship with Agent 3, Octavia wasted no time in giving an order.

"Kill him in the slowest and most gruesome way possible, and I want it broadcasted citywide, I want Agent 3 to watch his best friend die as painfully as possible."

That was the order that Octavia gave, but the captain believed it was a waste of a useful asset, someone like him could be "re-educated" using Octavio's methods and then inserted as a sleeper agent, that way they could first use him as bait to lure Agent 3 into a trap, and if somehow the trap failed, they would still have another shot at getting back at Agent 3.

"I want none of that! I gave you orders, carry them out, and don't you dare mention Octavio again!" Octavia scolded, she might have been hiding her opinion of Octavio to the rest of the population, but she had no reason to do so with the Elites.

While Octavio was doing things for the benefit of the Octarian race, Octavia seemed to act out of blind hatred, sometimes the captain believed she could lead better.

But now was a dark hour for Octo Valley, thus the captain of the guard set aside all thoughts of revolution for now.

Still, there was a lot of opportunity here, the captain tried to think of another solution.

"How long will it take Agent 3 to reach Melanin?" she asked

"Considering how he has never ventured deep inside Octo Valley yet? I'm guessing a minimum of four days, if you're worried about security don't be, I am sending some other Elites to help guard the prison."

"With all due respect ma'am I believe I can handle this."

"Nonsense, Agent 3 has beaten us countless times before because we were so spread out, you might be an Elite as well, but you cannot beat Agent 3 with a handful of Octolings and Octotroopers, a team of Elites will arrive at Melanin today."

The Elites were the best soldiers the Octarian army could offer right now, and the captain was one of the Elites, but still sending reinforcements so early was essentially saying "You are too incompetent to do your job so I'm taking over." It made the captain angry.

"In the meantime carry out your orders!" was Octavia's last transmission.

She might not have expressed it, but secretly the captain of the guard was angry at this turn of events, she had to somehow dispose of this anger, but going against Octavia and the Elites was suicide.

"Captain, is something bothering you?" one of the guards asked

"No" the captain replied

She turned to the surveillance cameras and saw live footage of the cells, the prisoners were all asleep.

The captain decided the best way to cool down was to let out her anger on the Inklings, after all to her; all Inklings were just as cruel and evil, the only difference was that she was much stronger, here the strong controlled the weak, she might have had orders to follow but that could wait, after all Agent 3 wouldn't be here for another four days right?

Since no Octarian could possibly have any sympathy for Inklings the Captain motioned to the other guards in the room to follow her, she was planning to have an audience to watch the next Inkling to be tortured.

* * *

Both Kal and Lila heard it, the sound of the cell unlocking, they both woke up instantly and hopped out of their bunks, someone was coming, both Kal and Lila were afraid of what would follow.

There she was, the captain of the guard, with black tentacles and seaweed on her head, she was followed by countless other Octolings and Octotroopers.

"Lila, stay back." Kal whispered

Lila nodded and backed up all the way to the wall.

Kal didn't bother to look back, his eyes were focused on the advancing guards especially the captain, who looked most intimidating.

Kal was scared, sweat dripped down his forehead, but he had made a promise, he would be the next one to die, not Lila.

Kal threw a punch but to no avail, the captain was lighting fast and dodged all of Kal's blows, Kal felt a sharp pain in his stomach as the captain landed a powerful kick, Kal fell on his side, clutching his chest and closing his eyes, he was sure he would be carried off but he wasn't.

He heard the voice of the captain; "You, your time has come, Inkling!" Kal thought they were referring to him, after all he just attacked them so they would definitely go for him right?

But then Kal heard it, he heard Lila screaming "No! No please! Let me go please!"

It took all his strength to get back up, Kal saw the captain and a few other Octarians dragging Lila away.

Kal ran forwards intending to tackle the captain but the other guards held him back, '_Why not me? Why are they taking Lila?'_ Kal wondered.

Lila was kicking and screaming, but to no avail, she wasn't physically strong enough to break free, and neither was Kal, the guards held Kal back and no matter what he did he could not move.

"Toss her into the boiling pit!" the captain ordered, leaving Lila to the other guards

"You can't do that! She's only 11!" Kal yelled, of course nobody would believe him, Lila looked no different from a fully developed Inkling.

The captain had not reacted, but Kal noticed that one of the guards was now eyeing him, it was the same Octoling from before the one who asked him about Agent 3, what was that Octoling doing?

"Captain! he's not lying!" she said, having checked Kal's expressions.

"So what?" was the captain's reply, those words felt like icicles striking Kal's back, how could someone be so cold?

"All Inklings are the same, it doesn't matter how young they are."

Lila was in a panic, she struggled and squirmed but could not escape the Octarians carrying her away.

"Please let me go! I swear, I will never be an Inkling again!" was the last thing Kal heard from Lila.

The guards holding Kal let go and left the cell, leaving Kal to himself.

He had made a promise, and he couldn't keep it, he had filled Lila with hope, only to have it taken away, he had tried to save her, but was too weak to do anything, Kal slowly broke into tears upon realizing how powerless he really was.

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

One could not tell, but it was night time in Octo Valley, so almost all the Octarians were asleep at this point.

Inker wondered why he couldn't just cover the ground with ink and swim to the prison, but then he remembered that there was no way to get to safety from here if they were spotted, so he stuck to Victoria's plan.

After a long walk the two were on the outskirts of the Undercity, the scenery changed, and Inker was looking all around observing the city around him as if he was a tourist.

"There are only houses here, earlier it was all apartments and skyscrapers." Inker noticed

"We'll be out of the Undercity in a moment."

"Hey look at that house, it's got some sort of art on the wall." Inker said pointing at a certain house with an Octarian tentacle and an Octoling in octopus form drawn on it's wall.

"I don't believe it, they haven't washed it off?." Victoria muttered

"Hmm? What did you say?"

"It was probably drawn by some kid who wants to join the army or something."

"That sounds like you, must be a common thing in Octo Valley."

'_It was me'_ Victoria thought '_That is my parents' house, I spray painted those crude drawings on our house before I left to live on my own, I can't believe they never bothered to clean it off.'_

"That reminds me, last time I saw the Octarian army, it was huge, how many Octarians are in the army anyways?" Inker asked

"You know I can't answer that."

It was general knowledge that a soldier couldn't go around giving information to whoever they please. But Inker, who knew of almost nothing military related, could not understand why Victoria couldn't tell him, after all he was just trying to make small talk, yet he didn't ask any further since he could tell that Victoria was reluctant to help him in the first place and decided not to bother her.

A few minutes later the two were far out of the Undercity, the landscape became empty and the ground was no longer paved. As Inker and Victoria walked on a large building complex surrounded by fences and towers came into view.

"You can see Melanin prison over there to the right." Victoria said, pointing to the complex.

"Got it." '_Hang on Kal, i'm coming.'_

"Alright, you know the way from here, i'm heading back now." Victoria said

"You mean you're not coming with me?"

"Get real, did you really think I would openly take up arms against my people?"

Despite her thoughts and feelings, Victoria was an Octoling through and through, she would never go against the Octarian race, Inker was kind of expecting that, so he said goodbye, gave Victoria her helmet back and moved on without her.

Inker took a deep breath as he was about to fight again for the first time since beating DJ Octavio. This time, Inker was too far into Octo Valley to be able to quit on a moment's notice, if something went wrong he may never be seen again.

'_No I can't think about that, right now I need to focus, i've beaten Octavio and the Octobot King, I can do this.'_

Could he though? It was certain that there would be Octarians waiting for him, after all Victoria did suspect reconnaissance by fire, _"if she was right then I could be walking right into a trap. Oh well it wouldn't be my first time doing so."_

Inker kept moving forward, Melanin prison was closer than ever, he drew his Hero Shot as he approached, and made sure his Burst Bombs were easily accessible.

More thoughts coursed through Inker's head, he was beginning to feel worried _"Why am I worried?"_ he wondered, he had fought the Octarians countless times before, he should be used to it by now.

'_Maybe it's because for once, someone I know is in danger, and not some Zapfish.'_

Inker looked around, there was nothing nearby that could be of help, he was in a flat open area, there was no cover, no powerups and no canned specials, _"A wide open place like this would be great for snipers….. I'm starting to wish I brought Marie or Neon with me."_

It then dawned on Inker that he never told anyone that he would be trying to rescue Kal and the other missing Inklings what would happen if he was splatted? There was no spawn point down here, and there was no way of contacting anyone from Inkopolis.

"You there! Freeze!"

Inker snapped back to reality, he was not close enough to Melanin prison yet, so whose voice was that? "_Probably no one friendly since I left Victoria behind."_

Inker wasted no time spinning around while reaching for a Burst Bomb, while his other hand held the Hero Shot. There was no chance for a Burst Bomb to splat anyone in a single hit, so without hesitation Inker turned and tossed the Burst Bomb at the closest creature he saw.

The bomb burst on contact, but as it was a Burst Bomb the one it hit was still standing, Inker found himself facing five, no ten, no twenty Elite Octolings, it was the reinforcements that were en route to Melanin prison.

Out numbered in an open area, and Inker had not inked any turf since Victoria had urged him not to, not only that but he had already attacked them, the burst bomb had hit the closest Elite Octoling, who now had patches of blue ink on her. Not only that but every Elite knew of how dangerous Agent 3 could be, and he had just thrown a bomb at them, there was no reason for any of them to hold back.

'_This is an interesting problem.'_

The Elites had Inker outmatched, they scattered and attacked him from all sides, Inker tried to bring some of them down with his Hero Shot but to no avail, the only option here was to give up and run.

This short skirmish with the Elites would only last a few seconds, for as Inker was firing his Hero Shot, he threw all the Burst Bombs he had behind him, making patches of blue ink behind him, the Elites tossed their own Splat bombs while other fired upon Inker, who transformed into a squid and jumped from patch to patch of his own ink.

Expecting him to remain and fight, the Elites made the mistake of covering the blue ink with their own to deprive Inker of any places to hide, this gave Inker some time to make a last ditch attempt to escape: by Super Jumping away from the Elites.

All Inklings can Super Jump, but the problem was that they needed time to prepare if they were to safely perform such a dangerous jump.

Swimming as far as he could from the Elites, Inker pointed up in Squid form, the Elites noticed and sent a barrage of ink his way, out of options Inker executed a Super Jump immediately, something no Inkling should ever do.

Inker shot upwards, flying ungracefully through the air, immediately he could feel the consequences of doing a Super Jump without proper equipment and preparations.

Inklings are taught how to Super Jump at young ages, thus everyone knew what would happen if one was to Super Jump without properly preparing themselves: their muscles will tear up from the sudden contracting and extending, not only that but the Inkling would also spin uncontrollably for the duration of the jump, making it impossible to land on your feet.

That was the price Inker paid for being distracted in enemy territory.

Melanin prison was getting further and further away, and with it, hope for Kal and the other abducted Inklings. Inker was going to land back in the Undercity, he had not jumped very high, but at least he jumped far enough to lose sight of the Elites.

Inker flew past the houses on the outskirts of the Undercity, he slammed into a building, before falling to the ground (Inklings have no bones so it didn't really hurt), his tentacles had been torn up from the sudden acceleration, so was his legs, luckily the high tech Hero Suit seemed to have protected the rest of him Inker could not easily walk, nor could he tell where he was, all he knew, was that he needed to get off the streets. It was too painful to walk, so Inker crawled for his Hero Shot, which had fallen nearby, he put it away, and begun crawling his way off the streets.

Inker recalled the place Spyke chose to hide from the cops, his current situation was similar, so he knew he needed to find an empty alleyway, some place no one would ever go, then if he could contact the Cap'n or maybe Victoria they could help him out.

That was a really big "If", Inker was too far inside Octo Valley to contact anyone, all he could do was wait and hope for some kind of miracle.

'_Dammit! I really screwed up!'_ Inker pounded the ground in frustration, never before had he suffered such a painful defeat, well at least he was still alive.

For the time being at least….

* * *

**Melanin prison, Boiling pit**

Lila was still kicking and screaming as the guards brought her to the dreaded boiling pit, the water was already boiling and steam floated out.

As soon as she was thrown in Lila could feel a burning sensation, she felt it over her entire body, the same pain that drove Bogs to his demise.

Lila pressed herself to the side of the pit and cried for a way out, but all the guards ignored her was seemed to enjoy her suffering, many of them were grinning and laughing, clearly they were enjoying themselves.

The pain was excruciating, Lila had never felt anything like it, it was like drying up and crumbling apart, yet somehow everything felt familiar, why was that?

"_I remember"_ Lila recalled past events, she recalled her time in school, the other Inklings were still mostly squids and their skin was the same color as their tentacles, but Lila was different, her skin became beige before any of the other squids, because of that the others made fun of her.

"Everybody run! Its a ghost squid!" Lila remember it as if it was yesterday, words hurt and all the other squids laughed as they ran from her, other times they simply called her names, and one time they convinced her that she was dying because of her unusually fast development.

Following that incident, Lila's parents had been called as she broke down in tears and would not stop crying no matter what the teachers and staff did, while her parents did calm her down it was something her brother Laven told her that really made her feel better: "You are not going to die anytime soon, those guys just played a mean prank on you just to see you cry."

Laven even led her back to the bullies while they were having fun amongst themselves and said "See how they are enjoying themselves? It just means that they enjoyed seeing you cry, remember this, nobody can know exactly when anyone will die, so if they say anything like that again, ignore them, but most of all do not cry or feel bothered at all, otherwise you'll just encourage them to keep on going."

Yes that was why it felt familiar, it wasn't words this time but it was just as painful, to Lila the bullies from back then were the prison guards now, they enjoyed her pain, but she was not going to let them get the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Fighting back tears, Lila grabbed her sleeve and stuffed it in her mouth, fighting the urge to yell by biting down on the cloth, she had seen this done on T.V before and so far it was working, everything still hurt but she was not yelling.

It was like her brother was still watching over her; what else did he say that might be of use here?

Lila recalled going to a playground with her family, she tried jumping off the swings like many of the other squids but she landed on her face, what did Laven tell her then?

"Don't worry, Lila don't think about what's hurting, think of something else."

Could she do that though? There was nothing else to think about, what else did Laven say?

"Pain is like a celebrity, you remember seeing the Squid Sisters right? It drew all your attention and you wanted to run over and say hi, that's what pain is like, it's hard not to pay attention to it, but still possible."

'_Still possible?' _Lila wondered, she decided to give it a shot, what could she think about? Agent 3? _'No he's just a fairytale, Kal just wanted me to feel better, he was probably just as scared as I was. Wait was he? Yes we were both scared hearing Bogs screaming, I won't do that, no I won't!'_

It was working, Lila still felt awful, but somehow she felt like she could relax a bit, she kept on distracting herself.

'_I wonder what the room looks like? Huh what is that?'_

An Octoshot was dropped into the pit, Lila picked it up, it reminded her of the Aerospray her brother lent her.

'_Does it also shoot?'_

Lila emptied the Octoshot on a wall, the ink dripped down as the steam prevented it from drying.

'_Huh it won't work anymore, oh well, hmm what are the guards doing?'_

Doing her best to focus on curiosity instead of pain Lila dropped the Octoshot and walked to the center of the boiling pit for a better view of the many guards looking into the pit, in doing so, she forgot about biting down on her sleeve as she didn't feel as bad as before.

All of them stood was shocked expressions on their faces.

To the Octarian guards who had no idea of what Lila was thinking, so all they saw was a small little girl shrug off the pain that drove even the largest Inklings to their demise, not only that but she never yelled out in pain.

Then the Octoshot was dropped and instead of shooting herself like all the other Inklings that had been boiled before, she emptied it on a wall and threw it away.

Now she bravely stood in the middle of the pit, where most of the steam was, it was the most painful place to be, yet she looked up and even stopped biting down on her sleeve, to the Octarians watching they thought that the Inkling wasn't hurting at all anymore.

By now the guards begun whispering amongst each other, none of them had ever seen such a thing.

"Unbelievable!" the captain exclaimed

The water in the pit was almost gone now, Lila had survived ten minutes in the boiling pit, an Octoling came over with a bucket to pour more water into the pit, but the captain motioned her to stop.

"Don't bother adding water, bring a stretcher here and prep the infirmary."

Those words made every guard in the room look at the captain with a confused expression, yet they were given orders, so they had to carry them out, Two Octolings and four Octotroopers left immediately, by the time they returned with a stretcher the water in the pit had completely evaporated.

Two Octolings rappelled down into the pit and brought Lila out.

To Lila room temperature felt cold, not only that but her body was covered in blisters which felt painful but she held her breath and fought back tears.

She had not screamed once.

Lila was laid down on a hovering stretcher, both she and the guards around were confused at what was going on.

The captain walked towards Lila and looked down at her, Lila recognised her as the scary lady from before, what was she planning to do with her?

"In Octo Valley there is an unspoken truth, the strong will live on, the weak will perish, and the fate of the broken are in the hands of who or what broke them."

The captain put patted Lila on the shoulder

"You are strong, so you get to live."

The motioned at the guards to take Lila away.

"Take good care of that inkling!" the captain yelled at the troopers taking Lila away.

'_Huh, that's something I never thought i'd say.'_

* * *

**Inkopolis**

Inker did not return from Octo Valley, and neither Cap'n Cuttlefish nor the Squid Sisters knew where he could be, however together they concluded that he must have gone to Octo Valley.

"Once we are done filming today's show we'll go look for him." Callie told Neon and Sky

Marie gave a nod of approval

Neon however wanted to come along "let me come with you two! You won't need to worry about me, I can fight pretty well."

"No"

"Come on why not? You remember how well I fought last time we went to Octo Valley."

"That's not the problem."

"Then what is?"

"You're way too excited, Octo Valley is not like Turf Wars, if you get splatted there, it will likely be permanent."

"Why can't I be excited?"

"Because, you'll end up distracted by your own emotions."

"But Callie is always excited."

Callie giggled a bit.

"She has a point there Marie." Callie said with a smile "But still, I understand where you're getting at." Callie then turned to Neon "the Octarian army always outnumbers us so we can't guarantee your safety if you come along."

"I don't need that, I just need my custom E-Liter 3K!"

"Neon, just let it go." Sky said

"But, it's Octo Valley! Plus Kal and Inker are stuck there! How can I sit back and do nothing?!"

"Just leave it to the professionals Neon, we can't do much in this situation."

"Sigh, alright then, I guess i'll go home for now." Neon finally gave up and left

"Sky?" Marie asked

"Yes."

"Keep an eye on her, I have a feeling she'll be going to Octo Valley regardless."

Sky nodded and went off in pursuit of Neon, while Callie and Marie returned the the studio.

* * *

Despite his efforts, Sky could not find Neon anywhere in Inkopolis plaza.

'_Perhaps she went back home? If she really is planning on sneaking off into Octo Valley she'll probably need time to prepare.'_ Sky knew this yet he decided to search Inkopolis plaza instead, because he was still hoping that Neon would listen to reason and not run into Octo Valley.

'_If she is going regardless of what anyone says what's the point of me following her?'  
_

'_Huh, that Inkling looks familiar.'_ Sky had seen a light purple colored Inkling in the crowd, walking with his face down, as if he was trying to hide his face from sight.

"Laven?" Sky asked

"Oh, hi Sky." Laven did his best to smile again

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon, you proved your innocence?" Sky asked

Laven's forced smile faded upon hearing that, Sky noticed and decided to avoid the subject.

"Umm, hey have you seen Neon anywhere?"

"No, don't tell me she's gone missing too."

"Oh no she's fine" Sky wanted to explain what was really going on, but Inker always insisted on keep the New Squidbeak Splatoon a secret, so Sky didn't explain any further, instead he decided to lie.

"She's probably off investigating on her own, she's done that before and nobody saw her for quite some time." That wasn't totally a lie, since Neon had done something similar before, and going to Octo Valley could technically be called an investigation.

"What about Inker? Is he also doing his own thing?"

"Yeah, Neon probably wants to join in so she's probably off looking for him." Sky couldn't say that Inker was in Octo Valley.

Now Laven was curious, if all of his friends are doing something, why was Sky still here?

"Forgive me for asking, but is there something going on between Neon and Inker?"

Sky gave Laven a confused expression "Where did that come from?"

"Sorry, I know I must sound like some weirdo for asking, but I was curious and it just came out."

Sky shrugged "Well it's fine, also no, I don't think there is anything going on between those two."

"Well then, why are you here all by yourself?"

'_Why is he interrogating me like this all of a sudden?'_ Sky wondered, after all Laven was acting pretty strange.

Being polite, Sky decided to keep answering Laven's questions

"Well I"

At least, Sky tried to answer, but as soon as he opened his mouth he realized he couldn't really tell Laven why he was staying behind without revealing that Neon was going to Octo Valley.

"I don't think I would be much help" There that was a decent lie, since it was somewhat truthful so it could be believed. _'I can't tell him i'm worried about the dangers of Octo Valley' _Yes Sky was sort of scared to go, he did not have much contact with Victoria before so all he knew about Octarians were based on Inkling rumors, and those rumors all said the Octarians were pure evil.

"So you would rather stay here all alone, instead of at least trying to help your friends?" Laven kept on asking

'_You're one to talk, I have never seen you with your own friends, and all you do is cry about your sister.' Sky thought, getting somewhat annoyed at Laven's questioning._

"Well I think it's better this way."

"No it's not!"

Laven's sudden outburst gave Sky a shock

"What are you talking about?" It was Sky's turn to ask questions

"How can you just sit by idly when one of your friends are missing and all your other friends are doing their best to find him?"

"Well I said I won't be much help."

"That doesn't matter, if you care about your friends you should go with them, after all what would happen if they ran into trouble? Wouldn't you want to be there for them if something happened?""

Laven was really pouring his emotions into these words, because deep down, he wanted to go off and find Lila, he wanted to find Lila, but he also felt that he himself was partially responsible and that he should stay.

Not only that but the cops still had their eye on him, so he couldn't really do anything, still that did not mean Sky had to sit by as well.

"But even if i'm there I won't be doing much."

"Then I guess they aren't really your friends are they?."

That sentence caught Sky's attention

"What did you say?"

"Am I wrong? If it was Lila or one of my friends out searching for some dangerous squidnapper and I had free time on my hands i'd help, but now you claim you can't do anything but you are really just scared aren't you?"

'_How did he know?!'_ Sky wondered

"Listen, do you really want to be alone sitting on your hands until your friends come back?"

"You know what….."

It was like a light had gone off inside Sky.

"... you are absolutely right! Thanks!"

Sky took off at full speed, he had to go home and get his own gear, after all he was going to be helping Neon, and based on what he knew about the Octarians, he wouldn't be much help unarmed.

Laven watched as Sky ran off, for the first time since Lila disappearance he felt normal again, Sky wasn't as young as Lila was, yet still, the way he was conflicted and how Laven had the chance to help out, it reminded him of the past, when Lila wasn't squidnapped.

This would probably be the best thing Laven could do now as he was suspected of squidnapping, so he could not show his face to his friends, because he was afraid of what they might think of him, yet Sky, Neon and Inker were still partially strangers, so they were the last Inklings he could really talk to. Plus they believed he was innocent so that made him feel better.

Laven wandered Inkopolis alone, avoiding places where he knew his friends liked to hang out, the citizens of Inkopolis might be kind and friendly, but to Laven, everyone who looked at him saw a criminal, so he distanced himself from everyone he knew…

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's manhole, Inkopolis**

'_Neon sure is taking her time…'_ Sky thought

It had been nearly an hour since Sky arrived at Inkopolis tower, he stood nearby with his roller across his back, waiting for Neon to arrive.

Finally Neon arrived, having made sure nobody was following her so that no one would stop her from sneaking into Octo Valley.

Any experienced Turf War player would be able to tell she was equipped for sniping as she had a Squash headband and Plum Casuals, which provided damage up, and an Anchor Sweat which had Cold Blooded as its main ability. Neon had also made sure to have six Damage Ups and three swim speed ups as her sub abilities.

Neon was glancing around, trying to not act suspicious, she slowly made her way to the manhole.

Sky made his way over to the manhole.

"Neon, what are you doing?"

Neon jumped, she was sure Sky hadn't been following her (and he wasn't he was waiting for her at the manhole).

"Oh hi Sky, I'm just umm, going to Inkopolis Tower for a late round of Turf Wars! Wanna come?" Neon said with a smile on her face, a dishonest one at that, she was as perky as ever.

"Really? Cause you were walking in the wrong direction."

"My bad, you look ready for a game of Turf though, come on let's go play Turf!"

Even after being caught in the act Neon was trying to make up some excuse, of course Sky didn't buy it.

"You can drop the act I know you are going to Octo Valley."

"What, no i'm not, i'm going to Inkopolis tower."

Sky didn't respond he just gave Neon a look that said: quit lying! I know what you're up too.

"Alright fine you caught me, yes I was planning on going to Octo Valley." Neon gave in

"Good, because I am too."

Neon's eyes widened in surprise

"Wait what!?"

"You heard me, i'm going to Octo Valley, why do you think i'm carrying this Roller around?"

Neon was shocked, she never thought that Sky would also take matters into his own hands

"Are you sure you want to go to Octo Valley? Cause you know you might get hurt right?"

"Well you are going so why shouldn't I?"

"Good point."

"Plus what kind of squid would I be if I just let everyone I know run off to such a place without helping them out?"

Neon' face lit up, finally nobody is here to stop her from testing her skills against an elite army.

"Alright! Let's go join Inker!"

Neon immediately hopped into the manhole, leaving Sky to eat her dust.

"Hey wait up!"

Sky ran after Neon, the two bolted past Cuttlefish who tried his best to stop them.

"Hey wait, you kids can't go in there, it's dangerous! You can't respawn and I ain't got extra Hero Suits for y'all!"

Neon and Sky ignored the Cap'n and kept on moving.

"Sky? Cuttlefish just said that you can't respawn in here, are you really okay with this?" Neon asked, still doubting that Sky would be willing to accompany her all the way.

"I made my choice and i'm not going back on it."

Neon smiled, and the two of them hopped into the first Kettle.


	7. Shellshocked

**Octotrooper hideout, Sector one, Stage one**

"Nothing…...Nothing…..Nothing…." Neon said as she zipped from corner to corner, checking for any Octarians.

They were in the Octotrooper hideout, the closest Octarian lair to Cap'n Cuttlefish's manhole, of course Inker had cleared out the place before so naturally it was devoid of any Octarians, its a shame Neon and Sky didn't know that.

"Why is there nobody here!?" Neon shouted, visibly displeased by the lack of enemies in this area.

Sky, who was less than excited to be here, replied. "Don't ask me, it's like a whole other world down here, Inker could be anywhere, so could Kal." he sighed "Since nobody is here we might as well check the next Kettle."

Neon smiled, she was still expecting Sky to want to return to Inkopolis as soon as he got the chance, but seeing as to how he was actually suggesting to enter more Kettles and explore Octo Valley convinced her that he was not going back to Inkopolis anytime soon.

Sky and Neon spent several hours going into different Kettles, and so far all of them were empty. They had spent so much time going into different Kettles that the entire night had passed, of course Neon and Sky had no idea what time it was since they could not see the sky from underground.

Of course they had not gone unnoticed, two certain figures, one green, one magenta, had been expecting them.

"You were right Agent 2, they both ended up coming even after we told them not to."

"Were you expecting anything else? I'm surprised they waited this long to come looking for their missing friend."

"Wait, you were expecting them to try and find Agent 3 on their own?"

"Of course, who wouldn't go looking for a missing friend or loved one? I would do the same thing if you were ever taken by the Octarians."

"Awww, thanks Agent 2!"

They weren't the only ones watching, Octotrooper hideout may have seemed abandoned, but Octavia had patrols going around every now and then, as soon as they saw cyan and bright green ink on their territory they knew that there were Inklings nearby.

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

Victoria glanced around, normally by now she'd be in the mess hall eating alongside her squadmates and probably listening Kevin blurt out some nonsense or information that was supposed to remain secret.

So why is it that she was outside the base with dozens of other regular Octolings?

Just moments ago there was an announcement stating that all Octolings stationed in Nautilus base were to abandon their current schedules and assemble in the courtyard.

"_I wonder what could this be about? I was sure to avoid all cameras and other Octarians when I was guiding Agent 3, plus he even had a helmet on, could I maybe have missed a few cameras?"_

As a well disciplined soldier Victoria made no movements as she stood at attention alongside dozens of similar looking Octolings, forming a giant red coloured rectangle in the middle of the courtyard. Each of these Octolings could not help but wonder why is it that they were called here, but none of them spoke either.

The sound of boots could be heard as Octavia and a few Elite Octolings marched up to the front of the regular Octolings.

Octavia's posture was perfect, and she stood with absolute confidence in herself, just as one would expect from the leader of an army.

"Yesterday morning a splatoon of Elite Octolings were attacked by Agent 3 near Melanin prison." Octavia said in a loud and clear voice for all to hear. "He escaped but not before taking the lives of two proud and loyal Elite Octolings."

'_Near Melanin prison? So he didn't rescue Kal yet?'_

"It is surprising that Agent 3 could make it so far into Octo Valley in such short time, as the first signs of his arrival was noted only two days ago, an investigation is currently underway to determine how Agent 3 got so close to Melanin prison without being detected." Octavia continued.

'_An investigation, and Agent 3 is still in Octo Valley, dammit Inker, if i'm executed for treason i'll spend my afterlife tormenting you for the rest of your days!' _Victoria told herself.

"However that news aside opportunity has sprung for you Octolings, last night more Inklings showed up and have begun combing through our lairs."

"_More Inklings? The other agents perhaps?"_

"You are to use your own skills to find and eliminate these intruders, we will be watching your actions through your standard issue goggles, whoever eliminates an Inkling shall receive an instant promotion to Elite Octoling, and join the investigation for Agent 3. However should any of you attempt to sabotage the attempts of your comrades or try and take credit for something you did not accomplish, you shall be summarily executed. Good luck."

The gates of Nautilus Base opened and the Octolings poured out, each one determined to secure a place among the Elites, however that last part about summary execution also frightened them, so they made sure to keep a good distance away from each other.

Victoria herself was also somewhat determined; "_I need to take whatever chance I get, if I become an Elite I'll be able to know all of Octavia's plans firsthand."_

Within two hours, the formerly abandoned lairs now filled with Octolings, each one hoping to nab a successful splat and climb the ranks.

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Inker was the picture of a defeated soldier, simply waiting a day wasn't enough to heal him, while his injury wasn't as bad as compared to what would have happened to most squids who super jumped without proper preparation, Inker still could only walk with a lot of pain.

Inker's equipment wasn't in such good shape either, he was told that the Hero Suit gave him three "lives" which meant he could return him to a nearby location if he was splatted, but seeing as to how it had been damaged from the jump, Inker wasn't sure if it could still perform its functions, well at least it protected his upper body from that sudden superjump. Inker's Ink Tank had also taken damage, because he had fallen on his back, there was a crack in the middle of the Ink Tank, one large enough to let Ink flow out, this meant that Inker could only have half his Ink Tank full.

Inker hadn't fired the Hero Shot since landing, but it seemed to still be operable, as for his Burst Bombs, Splat Bombs, and Seekers, they were all still there.

Still, having the max capacity of one's Ink Tank capped to 50% would prove to be difficult, even for Inker, plus a damaged Hero Suit's protection would be unpredictable, and the pain in his legs would slow Inker down when on foot, at least he could still swim.

Since it was daytime Octarians went on with their lives, from his position behind a large apartment building, Inker could see shadows of Octarians walking by, since he was in an empty alleyway there was no reason for anyone to come unless they were looking for him, which is why Inker kept one hand on his Hero Shot ready to fire down the alleyway, just in case one of those Elite Octolings came looking for him.

Despite his injuries and damaged equipment, Inker still needed to go to Melanin prison, by now Agent 1&2 should be wondering what became of him since he never called back after checking on Cap'n Cuttlefish, and if he stayed hidden like this they would never find him.

There was the sound of something clattering to the ground, Inker saw a shadow on the wall, somebody was approaching.

Inker raised his Hero Shot ready to fire at whatever creature came around the corner.

The shadow suddenly stopped moving it seemed to pick something up and leave.

Inker breathed in relief, if he had to fight in his current state he may not survive.

"_I'm starting to wish I brought more squids with me, maybe Marie or Neon for sniper support, and Callie or Sky to clear a path with their rollers? Nah Sky would never come to Octo Valley and he is probably keeping Neon in Inkopolis too. What about Callie and Marie? They ought to be looking for me by now."_

More time passed, and more shadows passed by, eventually Inker heard the sound of somebody spraying something.

Once again Inker raised his Hero Shot in case an enemy came around the corner.

And yet again nobody came.

Perhaps it was paranoia or maybe curiosity which drove Inker to cover part of the alleyway with ink and swim to the corner, taking a peek at what that spraying noise was.

Somebody had graffitied the wall, nothing dangerous.

Inker breathed another sigh of relief, he had never felt this weak and vulnerable before, so it was natural for him to be somewhat paranoid.

"$* *&$# &+ ! (%#*#?"

Inker could not understand what he just heard, however he recognized it as the way Octarians other than Octoling communicated.

"What's wrong? Did you hear something?"

Inker could understand the second voice, since he could understand what it had said one of the two voices probably belonged to an Octoling, the other could belong to any kind of Octarian.

"^ %#!* *&$#(^^&$ ! (%#*#."

What could that possibly mean? Could someone be coming here?

Inker backed up and brought is Hero Shot up, ready to fire at whatever came around the corner.

"There's nothing back there, come on or we'll miss the subway."

This was followed by approaching footsteps, since he didn't hear footsteps earlier Inker assumed that the first Octarian that was approaching was either flying or riding one of those hovercraft things.

"_What should I do? Should I hide? No they will see the blue ink and sound the alarm, should I shoot them down?"_

Inker's body flooded with adrenaline, making him shake with anxiety, he was ready to fire at whatever came around the corner.

Inker's finger rested on the trigger, he had the whole alleyway in plain view, whoever came around this corner would meet the business end of his Hero Shot.

The first Octarian who came around the corner was not flying as Inker had though, but rather, it was very small and did not make much noise when walking.

Inker froze, it was a small Octobomber probably still a kid.

The poor kid was struck with fear upon turning the corner to see an Inkling aiming a weapon at him.

The Octobomber's companion came running by.

"Come on, we need to go!"

It was an Octoling younger than Inker, whose face was still the same color as her tentacles as she had not developed a skin colour yet.

These were not soldiers, but random citizens and children at that, Inker would not open fire on these two, but one glimpse of Agent 3 pointing his Hero Shot at their direction was enough to scare the two Octarian children.

The Octobomber's mouth opened wide and his tentacles pressed on his cheeks as if he was trying to mimic the face on Edvard Munch's The Scream, while his companion the Octoling screamed out loud the second she saw Inker, she quickly grabbed her friend and ran!

"HELP! THERE'S A SCARY INKLING BACK THERE!" Inker heard the Octoling yell.

Time to run again, Inker fired Ink up a nearby wall, his legs still hurt alot, but he doubted that the Octarians who would come running would be the friendly type.

Inker grit his teeth and swam with all his might, he had to get out of here!

* * *

**Kelp Dome, Sector 2 Stage 8**

It happened so suddenly, Neon and Sky started encountering Octolings.

Sky gulped, remembering that he can't respawn down here, hopefully Neon could take care of them.

Neon on the other hand, wasn't fazed and shot her first Octarian.

"Woomy!" Neon yelled, just like she would in a Turf War.

"How can you be so calm about this?!" Sky asked shocked by Neon's behavior.

"I'm not calm, I'm incredibly excited!" Neon was bouncing up and down, smiling and waving her E-Liter around, an action that made Sky question her sanity.

Neon dropped a squid beakon then ran ahead, leaving Sky behind.

Despite his lack of experience, Sky knew that a Charger's place was high up, and a Roller's place was on the front lines, so he took out his roller and started covering the area with cyan ink.

He could hear the sounds of Neon's E-Liter firing and Neon's voice.

"Gungwewy!" "BANG" "Woomy!' "BANG" "Yeppy!" "BANG"

Judging by the sounds, Sky assumed Neon was hitting her targets.

Sky wasn't wrong, Neon was giving the Octolings a lot of trouble, from the Octolings' point of view things were not looking too good.

"Attention all units, we have made contact with the enemy at sector 2-8 in the kelp dome, exercise caution as the enemy's fighting potential is very high!" an Octoling reported to the others nearby.

They did not notice Sky yet, as Neon's loud sniping and cheering had drawn all attention to her.

Afraid of getting in each other's way, the Octolings ran towards Neon's position from every direction, as expected one of them noticed the cyan ink that Sky had been spreading all over the place.

Several Octolings converged on Neon's position, they tried to shoot her, but Neon super jumped to one of the squid beakons she had placed, putting a lot of distance between her and the Octolings.

"She's getting away! Ahhh!" an Octoling cried out just before Neon landed another successful hit.

Knowing that Squid Beakons got destroyed upon landing, Neon replaced the broken one with a second so that she could jump back if things got too dicey.

While most chased Neon, one Octoling had noticed the Cyan coloured ink, which was different from Neon's green ink and concluded another Inkling was nearby.

Sky noticed this and swam away, he was okay with splatting Inklings who could respawn, but here being splatted once meant your life was over, this knowledge made Sky decide to stay away from fighting, at least until he had the absolute advantage, or if he was in trouble.

The Octoling searching for Sky fired her Octo Shot wildly, covering the cyan ink with dark magenta ink.

Sky quietly slipped away.

Meanwhile a second wave of Octolings had arrived, Victoria included.

"Check your corners, and watch for the Inkling sniper." one of the Octolings told her comrades.

It wasn't long before Victoria saw another Octoling get picked off, she knew her Octo Shot could not beat a Charger type weapon at this range, so she made sure not to stand out in the open.

Since an E-Liter 3K was not good at covering turf, most of the Kelp Dome was covered in the Octarians' ink, so Victoria could move around unseen most of the time, in other words she played it smart, waiting for the best opportunity to strike.

However that plan changed when she was able to see who the sniper was that was giving the Octarians so much trouble.

"_You gotta be kidding me!" _Victoria recognized the bright green inkling from before "_Umm what was her name again? Nevermind that she is one of Kal and Inker's friends, what is she doing here? Please don't tell me she's looking for Inker."_

Victoria had only known Neon for a short while, and that was after Neon tried to splat her so the two weren't exactly friends, however they did part ways on good terms.

Victoria would not take the life of anyone who knew Agent 3 or Kal.

"_Wait a second, Octavia said that there were more than one Inkling, who else could be here?"_

Victoria could not get closer to Neon without being shot, so she decided to look for other Inklings nearby.

But first she had to do something about these goggles, Octavia and the Elites had access to live footage transmitted by the Octoling goggles so Victoria couldn't do or say anything to any Inkling unless she got rid of the goggles first.

With her Octo Shot in one hand and the other on her goggles, Victoria fired a few shots at Neon, who was still out of range.

Since Victoria looked the same as any other Octoling, Neon fired at her, Victoria tossed her goggles off, which was then engulfed with green ink, Victoria then retreated to find another Inkling.

Not too far from Neon's sniping spots, Sky was hiding from the Octoling who was covering turf with her Octo Shot, giving Sky less places to hide, if this kept up then soon he would be caught.

Sky was still feeling uneasy about taking someone's life, but at this point it was either his life or the Octoling's.

'_Alright stay calm, you can do this, its for your own safety, just sneak up on her and hit her with the Roller' _Sky told himself.

Sky swam around the Octoling, and prepared to emerge behind her.

The Octoling had no idea the Sky was behind her until it was too late, Sky emerged from behind, ready to bring his roller down on the Octoling.

On instinct the Octoling put her arms out in front of her face in a last ditch attempt to protect herself, but it wasn't needed.

Because Sky froze as soon as he came out of squid form.

For a second Sky stood with his Roller held above his head, looking at the Octoling cower behind her hands, he could not see the Octoling's eyes since she was wearing goggles, but Sky could guess that they were full of fear.

All he had to do was make one swift motion and this Octoling's life would be over.

'_This is it, I need to do this, come on, why wont my arms move?'_

Sweat ran down Sky's head, he was shaking as if he was trying to move, but he was frozen stiff.

The Octoling was right there in front of him, defenseless, an easy target, all he had to do was attack.

'_AHHH! I can't do it! I can't take someone else's life even to save myself!'_

Sky lowered his Roller, unable to bring himself to take the life of a living being, he was shellshocked and couldn't move.

As for the Octoling she recovered from her shock and fired at Sky without hesitation.

By the time the first shot hit Sky the world seemed to slow down for him.

'_I heard the Octarians never showed mercy, that means i'm done for, I couldn't even splat someone when my life depended on it, I am useless here, I should never have came. Neon please save me!'_ Sky thought

A second shot had hit, as the Octoshot had a fast firing rate and could splat an Inkling in three shots, Sky could not do anything but stand still.

He wanted to run but couldn't move

He wanted to defend himself but couldn't feel his arms

He wanted to cry for help but couldn't find the words

He could only stare blankly at the Octoling, who was grinning with the thought of promotion.

Sky closed his eyes.

_Splat_

'_So that's it? Am I dead?' _Sky wondered, his eyes were closed and didn't see what had just happened.

He was alive, because the moment he had lowered his Roller a certain magenta colored Inkling ran to his aid.

The Octoling did not expect a second Roller wielding Inkling to appear and was caught off guard.

"Are you alright?"

Sky opened his eyes and saw Callie, in her Agent 1 outfit, but was still too shook up to say anything.

A few tears found their way out of Sky's eyes as he was still thinking about his near death experience as well as the horror of real fighting in Octo Valley.

"There there it's alright." Callie gave sky a hug and patted his back to comfort him.

Marie, who was in a sniping spot left Callie with Sky and went to go get Neon, who was having a blast sniping and superjumping all over the place.

Victoria noticed Sky and Callie, since she couldn't speak to Neon without getting shot, Victoria decided to approach Callie and Sky.

Callie grabbed her Hero Roller when she saw Victoria approaching, not realising who it was.

"Stay here." Callie told the still shaken up Sky, before attacking Victoria.

Victoria didn't expect that Callie to not recognise her, so she was nearly hit by Callie's roller.

"Hey! What the heck do you think you're doing!" Victoria shouted "I have no weapons and bear no ill intent!"

That didn't stop Callie from taking a swing at her with her Hero Roller.

Then Callie stopped for a moment after realising that this goggleless Octoling was indeed unarmed.

"What? you're here to talk then?" Callie asked

"Of course! Don't you recognize me?"

Callie tilted her head

"Nope, sorry."

Victoria turned to Sky who said nothing, which implied he didn't recognize her either.

"Seriously!? It me Victoria! Inker helped me out a few months back."

"So you're the Octoling from before?" Callie said

"Yes!"

"Umm you're kinda sinking." Callie pointed out that Victoria was standing in her ink and was slowly sinking into it.

"Oh don't worry about that it's nothing. Anyways I can't be seen talking with you so i'll make this quick; every Octoling in the army is on their way here so you guys need to get out of here, if you are looking for Agent 3 I can help you, head to the rig, it's the 26th kettle and its located in sector 5 and make sure you are not followed."

Victoria hastily swam off before Callie or Sky could even say something.

"Did you hear that Agent 2?" Callie spoke into her headgear.

"Yes, i'll try and get Neon to come along, in the meantime get Sky out of the lair and hide somewhere, we will meet up again once we lose these Octolings."

"Sounds like a plan, see you soon Agent 2."

Callie turned to Sky

"Can you walk?"

Sky nodded

"Alright then follow me, we need to get out of here."

While Callie and Sky left, Marie had a harder job convincing Neon to retreat.

Neon's immediate response was: "No need, I'm doing just fine!"

Neon superjumped again, Marie grumbled as she made her way to Neon's new spot.

"Listen, there are alot more Octolings coming, even with my help you'll be overrun."

Neon ignored Marie

"They are getting close again." Neon said as she superjumped to another beakon.

Once again Marie chased after her.

"It's better to run than to fight a battle that can't be won, you can't keep fighting on your own!"

Neon superjumped again.

Marie sighed, she was getting nowhere with this squid.

'_Agent 1, Neon is being uncooperative, we should just leave her behind.' _Marie wanted to say, but she wasn't that kind of squid.

'_Alright, time to try something new.'_

Marie made her way over to Neon once again.

"Neon, I can't believe you left your friend behind, he nearly got splatted!" Marie shouted

There was a slight twinge in Neon's movements, usually when Neon fought she wasted no time at all and every movement had a purpose, but for a second she had stopped.

"Not my problem." Neon replied

"So you don't care about Sky? I guess that means you wouldn't care about anyone else either, so you didn't come to Octo Valley to find Inker, but just to fight because you find it fun?"

Neon's body stiffened "Shut up, leave me alone."

"If I had the choice I would have done that already, but the New Squidbeak Splatoon leaves no squid behind."

Neon stopped for a moment before tracking another target. Marie continued to talk

"Inker said you were great at turf wars, but since you can't seem bothered to help those who fight alongside you I'm starting to doubt Inker's word, are you incapable of working as a team? Then again its easier to be lucky than good, I guess that's how you made it this far on your own."

"You don't know me, I can fight well on my own or with others!"

The Octolings had gotten close again, but for some reason Neon wasn't superjumpng away this time.

"Prove it then, today me, Callie and Sky are your team and we are pulling back, but we are not leaving you behind, you can stay and die on your own, that's fine with me."

"Alright I get it, i'll go!" Neon shouted

Marie smiled "Good choice."

* * *

**Nautilus Base, Octo valley**

"Acting leader, the team we dispatched to investigate the whereabouts of Agent 3 ran into two kids who claim they saw Agent 3 hiding in an alleyway, the team went to investigate and found a large trail of blue ink, they are currently following the ink which will likely lead to Agent 3."

As usual Octavia sat behind her desk, arms crossed as she listened to the report.

Since Octavia had absolute faith in her elite squads of Octolings she wasn't surprised that they had picked up Agent 3's trail, instead she was more concerned as to why she hadn't seen an execution of a certain red inkling on the news yet.

"What about Melanin prison?" Octavia asked

"The captain of the guard has put Melanin prison on high alert as soon as she heard that Agent 3 had nearly gotten to them."

"That is not what i'm asking for, why hasn't she executed the red inkling has ordered?"

""The captain of the guard believes that we may be underestimating Agent 3 as he was able to reach Melanin prison in half the time we expected, so she currently has all available units on guard, herself included."

Octavia felt a bit or anger boiling inside her, the captain had just ignored orders, such a thing could not go unpunished. However the whole point of a public execution was to demoralize Agent 3 or make him act out of anger, both would have provided their troops with an advantage.

However since Agent 3 would soon be discovered then there would be no reason for an execution so Octavia could maybe let it slide this once.

Octavia stood up making the Octoling giving the report snap to attention.

"I'll be personally aiding the recon teams looking for Agent 3." Octavia declaired

"But ma'am, is it really necessary for you to go? I understand that seeing their leader take to the battlefield will raise the morale of our troops but Agent 3 should be at a disadvantage here and our teams should take care of him without much trouble."

"You should not underestimate Agent 3." Octavia replied as she left her office.

Yes it was unnecessary for Octavia herself to fight Agent 3, but Octavia knew that right now, any opponent fighting Agent 3 would have an advantage, she wanted to be that opponent, plus seeing their leader eliminate a powerful enemy would make morale soar.

Equipping her goggles, armor and Octoshot, Octavia boarded a flying saucer and left Nautilus base to join the forces searching the undercity.

As she waited to arrive, Octavia thought of that time went Agent 3 had arrived in Octo Valley to return a prisoner, the Inkling had actually let his guard down for once, in fact Octavia even held him by the collar.

'_I could have snapped the blue bastard's neck if I wanted to, but I was soft.'_

Octavia imagined a dying Agent 3 begging for mercy, such a sight would bring her joy. An Inkling who knew nothing of pain or suffering would experience to worst of it firsthand.

For the first time since taking over as Octarian leader, Octavia was feeling excited.

* * *

**Melanin prison**

Why the Octarians were suddenly squidnapping Inklings from Inkopolis had been a mystery to Kal.

Sometimes he thought it was because he was there went Inker returned Victoria to Octo Valley, but that didn't explain why others like Bogs and Lila were taken away.

But yesterday it all started to make sense.

'_Please let me go! I swear, I will never be an Inkling again!' _the last thing heard Kal heard Lila say haunted him.

Because it made clear that the Octarians were capturing Inklings out of pure hatred.

It wouldn't matter if you were five, ten, or thirty, it wouldn't matter if you were an Agent, a police officer, a doctor or a farmer, if you were born an Inkling you were in danger. After all the captain of the guard had said it herself, she didn't care who they were, as long as it was an Inkling it would be killed.

When Kal got here, there were three prisoners total; Lila, who didn't talk to anyone, Bogs, who was more brawn then brain, and himself.

Now Kal sat alone in a empty cell, plates of stale seaweed were occasionally sent in via dumbwaiter, aside from that there was nothing left to do, he could try and chat with the guards, but it would probably result in a beating.

For now, Kal was wasting away in a cage, far from Inkopolis and everyone he knew.

Kal sighed after lying down on his bunk, he hadn't done anything in a past few days, and wasn't fed well either, he couldn't sleep like that, so Kal found himself staring at the ceiling.

Like the walls, the ceiling was also uneven, there were lines, bumps and ridges all over it, out of boredom Kal started connecting the bumps on the ceiling, what he was doing was similar to stargazing in a way.

"Click"

The metallic sound of the cell door unlocking could be heard.

Kal heard the voices of the Octotroopers outside, but could not understand what they were saying.

He could hear someone approaching.

Suddenly there was an Octoling looking down at him "Get up, the captain wants to see you."

Without a word, Kal obeyed getting off his bunk and following the Octoling away.

'_Well, guess me time has come,' _Kal thought.


	8. Rescue In Sight

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

"Bzzzt"

"Vrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

"Pshhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Noises like these could be heard all over the place as Inker ran around Octo Valley via rooftops.

The buildings here were really run down, usually you wouldn't hear all these noises, it was yet another reminder of how Octo Valley was nearing its end.

To save Octo Valley without conflict had been Inker's goal ever since he defeated DJ Octavio, he thought that without Octavio's influence the Octarian army would be pacified, every life he reluctantly took was to that goal, with the army pacified maybe the Octarians and Inklings could have worked something out, they must have done it at some point since there was evidence that the two races once lived in harmony.

For now that goal had to be set aside, Inker's current goal was to survive and save the squidnapped Inklings, a task that should easily be attainable by someone like him, yet here he was, injured and on the run.

Inker wanted to stop swimming and leaving a large trail of ink, but in his current condition walking would be far to difficult.

He had been swimming around the rooftops for kraken knows how long now, trying to get out of the Undercity.

While this part of Octo Valley was still new to him, Inker at least remembered that the outskirts of the Undercity didn't have any skyscrapers.

If he could just get to Melanin prison again he could free the captured Inklings, including Kal, he would not be distracted this time.

Inker stopped, he had finally reached the outskirts of the city now

He left a huge trail of ink behind him but it didn't matter now, his objective was close.

Hoping that nobody would see him, Inker leapt down the building, Inklings didn't get hurt easily from falling so it didn't injure Inker any further.

All he had to do now was find landmarks that he had passed on the way to Melanin.

* * *

**Rumble at the Rig, Octo Valley sector 5**

Callie and Sky had arrived long before Neon and Marie, who were likely still losing their tail.

Sky was still somewhat shaken from his earlier encounter, he sat in a fetal position as he thought of recent events, seeing this Callie decided to leave him alone for now.

"How do you do it?" Sky finally spoke again after sitting alone for a while

"Huh?"

"How do you do it? Cuttlefish said that you can't respawn down here, how can you bring yourself to splat those Octarians?"

"Well…"

Callie wasn't sure how to reply, it was a pretty difficult question to answer.

"Could it be because of some natural instinct? I know that Inklings and Octarians are supposed to be natural enemies, but I still can't even think of splatting somebody permanently, even if its an Octarian." Sky was the type to think more than act, so no surprise that he already came up with his own theory.

"Natural instinct? Nah I don't think it's that, besides no one can say for sure that Inklings and Octarians are supposed to be natural enemies."

"Then why are you, Marie and Inker are down here fighting the Octarians in your spare time?"

Callie scratched her head, not sure how to reply, luckily for her Marie and Neon arrived.

"Agent 2! Why are we fighting the Octarian army?"

"Because they squidnapped a bunch of Inklings."

"Not that, I mean before."

"Because they took the Zapfish."

"No I mean like why did gramps create the New Squidbeak Splatoon!?"

"To counter the Octarian army, because we are stuck in a cycle where neither of the two races can afford to live without Zapfish, so we end up fighting over them; they attack, we counterattack, rinse and repeat."

Callie turned to Sky "there you go! That should answer your question."

"Weren't you the one who asked?"

"No, before you got here Sky asked how do we put up with splating the Octarians and it led to him asking why the New Squidbeak Splatoon exists."

"I get it."

Marie decided to answer Sky's earlier question

"Normally everyone expects people to sit down and talk things out, but that only works when both parties agree to do so, the Octarian army doesn't discuss things, they just attack out of nowhere. I understand that splatting someone here is different from splatting someone in Turf Wars and that every Octarian we encounter has their own family and stories to tell, but as long as the Octarians keep executing unprovoked attacks, we need to fight back."

Sky nodded "Okay, I just can't bring myself to permanently splat someone, if I did what would their friends think? how would their family feel? and what about their dreams?"

Marie cut Sky off "Listen, it's good that you think about these things, it shows how considerate you are towards other people, but if you are in the middle of a fight, you don't have the time to think about all that, if you overthink things you will end up with no time to act. I'm not asking you to stop thinking, I'm just saying that it could be dangerous if you overthink."

"Are you done? Then let's get moving." Victoria had arrived while Marie was talking with Sky.

She was wearing the Inkling clothing she had borrowed from Kal, and held the Tentacles helmet in her hand, probably planning on wearing it so that any Octarians who saw her would assume she's an Inkling.

"Victoria! Long time no see! How's Octo Valley?!" Neon seemed happy to see Victoria.

"...fine I guess, Anyways we need to get going, but before we move on I want you all to promise not to hurt any Octarian unless they are armed okay?"

"Of course! Who do you think we are anyways?"

The Inklings prepared to move along.

"Sky, are you feeling any better?" Neon asked

Sky, had not moved from his fetal sitting position "Sure I guess, lets go."

"Sorry for leaving you behind, you know how I can be when i'm in the middle of a fight."

Sky stood up "That's what i'm afraid of, well at least now we got more allies, so I should be fine if you leave me behind."

"What's wrong with him?" Victoria asked, noticing Sky's condition

"He has trouble bringing himself to splat people." Marie anwsered

"Ahh so he doesn't want to lose his innocence."

"What?"

"When a soldier takes the life of another, we call it a loss of innocence."

"Then that means the majority of the Octarian army have yet to lose their innocence."

Marie said this because there have been nearly no Inkling casualties in the past 100 years.

"grrrrrr" Victoria clearly did not appreciate this remark about the army, especially since she was one of them.

"Anyways we don't have time to waste, Elite Octolings are looking for Inker so we need to get moving, follow me and don't mention my name once we reach the Undercity."

* * *

**Melanin prison, Octo Valley**

With an Octo Shot aimed at his back, Kal walked through the degrading hallways of Melanin prison, supposedly the captain of the guard wanted to see him, and the Octoling pressing her weapon against his back was bringing him to the captain.

Kal had no idea what the layout of the prison was, so he had no idea where he was going, he did notice however, that he was now in an area that looked abandoned with nearly no guards.

It was also an area where he could not hear that techno-like music that was being played all the time.

There were two other Octolings in this area, they left their post and joined the Octoling that was moving Kal along.

'_Wait this doesn't feel right.' _Kal thought as he noticed there were now three Octolings behind him.

One of the Octolings walked in front and opened a door which was hanging on only one of its hinges.

They were now outside the prison building, but still inside the compound.

The three Octolings each looked a different way before turning to each other.

"All clear?"

Another nodded

"All clear."

As if on cue, all three Octolings turned their attention to Kal at the same time.

A chill went down Kal's back '_Wait why did they take me here?'_

Kal looked around and noticed that this particular area was unguarded and unwatched, it was a blindspot.

It was the perfect place to do something without anyone noticing, which made Kal nervous.

"You said you know Agent 3 correct?" one of the Octolings asked

'_That question again? Maybe they are afraid of Inker?' _Kal thought, recalling all the silly rumors about Agent 3 that Victoria had heard of.

'_But if I say yes, what would happen? Inker fought the army before, if they are mad at Inker for splating their comrades would they take their anger out on me?'_

"No" Kal quickly lied

"Really, then why did you say you knew him the last time we talked?" another Octoling spoke up

'_The last time we talked? Is this that Octoling who was asking me and Inker before? It's kinda hard to tell them apart.'_

"We talked before?"

"Yes, a few days ago I interrupted your storytime and asked about Agent 3, back then you spoke slower, and your eyes would glance towards the left when pausing."

It was no doubt the Octoling from before, Kal made a mental note to try and figure out a way to distinguish the Octolings he met.

"Do you know what that means?" the Octoling continued.

Kal had no idea why the Octoling had brought all that up.

"Umm no."

"As the captain's aide I often need to question her troops to make sure everything is in order, therefore I know how to tell a lie from the truth, when someone unconsciously rolls their eyes to the left while speaking slowly it means they are trying to recall something, while someone who speaks quickly is likely to be nervous because they are not sure what to say."

This certain Octoling seemed to be confident in her ability to tell truth from lie.

"So we ask you again, you know Agent 3 correct?"

The Octoling's voice wasn't comforting, nor threatening and all three Octolings had the same expression as any other guard Kal had seen so he could not tell what their intentions were.

Since one of the Octolings could tell he was lying, Kal decided to answer truthfully and hope for the best.

"Yes"

"Good."

Another Octoling spoke

"Listen we'll do you a favor."

Kal blinked '_Do me a favor? Could these Octolings be Victoria's friends? Are they going to help me escape?'_

The Octoling who could tell truth from lie noticed Kal's expression.

"We won't be doing something like breaking you out, so don't get excited."

'Aww'

"But we can tell you that Agent 3 is on his way here, so you won't be staying here for long."

'_Ahh I see, these three must have heard of those silly rumors about Inker, so they don't expect to be able to stop him.' Kal concluded though it didn't explain why they brought him here just to tell him that._

"Also something else you should know, the purple Inkling who was tossed into the pit the other day, she survived."

This got Kal's full attention

"What? Lila survived?"

"Yeah it shocked us too, she's a tough kid."

"What about Bogs? The big orange guy."

"Oh that guy, he's dead as a doornail."

Kal was even more surprised by this '_So Bogs, who was probably several years older then me, who looked very fit and always acted tough died, but Lila who was only eleven, frail, scared and probably naive, survived?'_

"Don't expect anyone else to survive though, the purple girl was the first Inkling to have survived that pit, Quite surprising for someone who was only eleven years old, the captain seems to have taken an interest in her and sent her to the infirmary to heal."

Kal was relieved to hear that Lila had survived, as for Bogs, he didn't like him much but was still bothered by his death.

Hearing a noise, one of the Octolings grabbed Kal, put her hand over his mouth, and pushed him against the wall, the two other Octolings went towards the direction of the sound, a moment later they returned.

"Just some garbage blowing by, nobody in sight."

The Octoling who was holding Kal then let go of him and continued speaking.

"Also there were more Inklings brought in over the days and held in other cells, tonight when your dinner arrives in the dumbwaiter there will the a map of the prison underneath the plate, the circled areas are where the other Inklings are held."

'_So in other words these three want me to guide Inker when he gets here so that he won't have to explore and fight through the whole prison, and therefore there will be less of a chance that they run into Inker, these three must be cowards.' Kal thought_

"Why are you doing this?" Kal asked

"Well, we want a favor from you in return for this information."

The three Octolings each pulled out a scrap of paper and handed them to Kal.

"144 Lamella Ave, 86 Radula Blvd, 1408 Dolphin Ave, wait are these addresses? Why are you giving me addresses?"

"From what we heard, Agent 3 enjoys rampaging through Octarian lairs, so he would probably do the same in the Undercity."

'That is just a bunch of made up rumors, Agent 3 would never do something like that unless absolutely necessary.' Kal wanted to say, but he decided not to.

He must have been amused by this development because the Octoling noticed his mouth twith upward a bit.

"Were you about to smile? Why would you do that? Do you want to see a rampaging Agent 3 in Octo Valley's most populated area? Do you know how hard it is for us to live here without his interfering?"

Kal quickly replied

"No no, i'm just glad that someone is coming for me." this wasn't a lie, so the Octoling didn't go any further and let her fellow Octoling continue explaining.

"So when that time comes please keep Agent 3 away from these places." the Octoling continued.

'_Since when did Agent 3 break into houses and splat its occupants? I really want to correct them but in this situation it's probably best to keep them a bit scared.'_ deciding not to tell the Octolings that the rumors they heard were greatly exaggerated Kal turned his attention to the addresses instead, why did they want to keep Inker away from those places, could they be hiding something important there?

"What so important about these places anyways?" Kal asked

If they avoided the question then there would definitely be something important to the army there.

However the Octolings answered

"Our families."

Following that the Octoling who could tell truth from lie spoke

"It may be new to you but I want you to think about us Octarians for once."

"What do you take me for?"

"Someone who was entitled to live in a safe and clean city while an entire race suffer below you."

Clearly just because these Octolings wanted a favor didn't mean they needed to like Inklings.

"Anyways, my name is Claire,1408 Dolphin is where my family lives, my parents are too weak to work and get sick easily and I have two sisters and a brother, all too young to work, so i'm the only one supporting my family, as you'd expect we are poor, so please do not let Agent 3 harm us any further."

Hearing this, Kal made sure to remember Claire's appearance, so that he would not mistake this unfortunate Octoling for any others, he noted that Claire's skin was a shade darker than the other two and had what appeared to be a scar on her right cheek.

The next Octoling spoke up.

"I'm Lynn, 86 Radula Blvd is my parents home, i'm an only child and both my parents are gravely ill, because of this they depend on me to send medicine and save up enough money for a doctor. They could not possibly do anything to hurt any Inkling, so please keep Agent 3's rampage away from them."

Like with Claire, Kal made sure to remember Lynn, who had her tentacles tied up in a bun, different from the average Octoling.

The last Octoling spoke "The last address in mine, I'm Madison, I live with my younger sister who is twelve, I had an older sister, but Agent 3 got her already, I also had a brother but he died along with my parents when the apartment building we used to live in collapsed, my little sister is too young to be a soldier, please keep Agent 3 away from her.

Kal noted that Madison was the tallest of the three Octolings present, although he couldn't see anything else that could make Madison stand out.

'_These three, they aren't doing this because they want to survive, but because they have to support their family.'_ Kal thought.

"I'll do what I can."

With that, the Octolings brought Kal back inside, and Lynn took Kal back to his cell.

Despite it still being lonely inside this cell, Kal was glad that he wasn't killed off today and now he had quite a bit to think about.

'_Claire, Lynn and Madison, each of them had a similar reason to be working in the Octarian army, why take such a dangerous job if they had people who depended on them back at home? I can't understand it. If I ever get to talk with Victoria again I should tell her about these three, yes an Octoling would probably understand better than me.'_

Kal couldn't really understand the Octarians' mindset, yet he was starting to become interested in it. A couple months ago he thought that Octarians were just the natural enemy of Inklings who wanted power to themselves

Then he met Victoria and learned that most Octarians are just trying to save their city

Then he saw the captain of the guard who seemed to hate Inklings for no apparent reason

Now there were the trio of Octolings who would were more worried about their families than themselves

Kal could decide whether they were bad or not, in fact he was starting to understand why Inker wanted to make peace between the two races.

'_There is still so much we do not know'_

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

On the rooftops of the Undercity were five trails of ink, each a different colour.

Unlike before time was of the essence as Victoria knew that the Elite Octolings were searching for Inker, they couldn't afford to move unseen, they had to move fast so Victoria didn't stop anyone from shooting ink everywhere.

Following Victoria was Callie, Marie, Neon and Sky.

Having recovered from his earlier shock, Sky was not about to turn tail and head back to Inkopolis, besides with waves of Octolings washing across the lairs looking for them there was no way he could make it all the way back.

So here he was, trying not to think about splatting an Octarian.

A flying saucer flew overhead landing a good distance away from them.

Since she was an Octoling, Victoria easily recognised it: the one from Nautilus base, flown by an Octostriker, often accompanied by Octocopters and Octobombers, and since Octavia came into power she used those saucers to ferry her and the Elites between points of conflict.

"That saucer would only land if it was dropping off Elite Octolings or picking them up." Victoria informed the Inklings behind her.

"Which means we will likely run into trouble if we keep going this way, then should we go around it?" Sky asked

Victoria was about to agree since she could not afford to be seen helping Inklings, but then she remembered something else.

"The Elite Octolings were searching for Agent 3, that saucer could be picking him up if the Elite had managed to capture him, even though I doubt they would bother capturing him."

"It could also be dropping off reinforcements if they were fighting Agent 3 nearby." Marie suggested "I think Agent 1 and I should take a look."

"I'll go too" Neon added

"You guys should remember that I can't afford to be seen working with you so if you are heading over to that saucer I'm heading back." Victoria reminded the others

"Then we should split up, we will go look for our fellow Agent, Victoria, you take Sky and Neon to Melanin prison."

Assuming there would be guards at Melanin prison Neon quickly agreed

"I'm down with it, What about you Sky? Are you okay with it?"

"Yes"

"Are you sure you are okay with it? I cannot guarantee that i'll be there for you if you freeze up again."

"Don't worry about it, ill be fine, just don't leave me behind this time."

"Alright then, we will meet up back at the rig once we get Kal out of there."

"No need, Melanin prison is in that direction right?" Callie asked Victoria, pointing to the direction of the saucer.

"Yes"

"Once we determine whether or not the Elite Octolings have Agent 3 we will head towards the prison, it shouldn't take long."

And with that, Callie and Marie separated from Victoria, Neon and Sky.

* * *

The rooftops of the Undercity are relatively barren, objects like Gushers which the Agents could use to their advantage were nowhere to be found, a fight here would be a direct one.

However there were still ways to get the drop on your opponent here.

As Callie and Marie approached the place where the Octarian saucer had landed a moment ago, they discovered the reason as to why it landed here.

A blue trail of ink, that could only mean one thing: Agent 3.

Following the trail of ink was five Elite Octolings, they were still a good distance away so they did not see Callie and Marie yet.

Marie whispered something to Callie, who then hopped down, Marie approached the Elites alone.

Getting in range, Marie charged a shot, however the Elites had noticed her, and quickly dropped Splat Bombs and scattered.

Expecting this to happen, Marie stood still, knowing that the Octolings would have to come up sooner or later, and if they didn't it would be fine.

That was because Callie dropped down to the streets below so that she could come up right in front of the Octolings by climbing the building that they were on.

However the Elites were coordinated, they all lept out of the ink at once, Marie shot one, then started backing up.

"And here I thought I'd get some payback on Agent 3, looks like you will have to do. Surround her!"

"Understood Acting Leader!"

It would seem that Octavia was leading this small group.

The three Elites each charged bravely towards Marie, each one attacking from a different side, however the one who had given the orders stood back.

'_Psh, their leader is a coward, alright then, i'll go after you.'_

Marie splatted the Octoling in the middle, leaving a good trail of green ink behind, Marie used this trail to swim past the two other Elites and go after the leader.

'_Huh?'_

Probably anticipating Marie to go after her, Octavia had hidden in her ink.

Marie was planning on finishing off Octavia with a single shot as soon as she put some distance between the other two Elites, but she could not see Octavia anywhere.

Knowing not to stay put, Marie threw a Seeker and swam behind it, before popping up to take another shot.

However, Octavia popped up right beside her, without time to fully charge her Hero Charger, Marie fired the half charged shot and dove back into her ink.

Octavia shrugged off the hit she took and started covering Marie's ink with Octarian ink.

The other two Octolings had also caught up and also begun covering Marie's ink.

Octavia saw this as her win "Well well, looks like you're trapped Agent 2, you Inklings may have gotten lucky before, but you won't get lucky down here."

There was only a bit of Marie's green ink on the edge of the roof that they were on, Marie hopped out of the ink.

There was not a single trace of worry on her face.

The two other Elites ran towards Marie

"This is the heart of Octo Valley, we rule these lands, give yourself up and I promise you will be the last Agent to die." Octavia continued as she slowly walked towards Marie.

"You talk to much." Marie said before backflipping off the roof.

Since no Inkling nor Octoling would die from a fall the Elites ran to where Marie had hopped off, intending on chasing her.

However as they reached the ledge Callie appeared right in front of them with her Hero Roller held high.

"Surprise!"

Callie brought her Roller down on one unfortunate Elite, the other fell backwards before transforming and swimming away, with Callie giving chase with her Roller.

Marie hopped back onto the rooftop, the two agents watched as Octavia and her remaining Elite Octoling hopped off the rooftops.

It wasn't long before the same saucer returned to pick them up.

"Easily overconfident, talking too much and quick to retreat." Callie commented on the retreating Octavia

"What a generic villain." Marie added

With that out of the way all that was left to do was follow the trail of blue ink.

* * *

**Undercity outskirts, Octo Valley**

The landmark that Inker was looking for was the house with an Octarian tentacle and an Octoling in octopus form sprayed on it's wall, and he had found it, upon closer inspection there were also words written underneath the spray painting.

"Guided by duty, serving with honor." Inker read the words.

It was probably written by an Octoling since Inker could read it.

'_Definitely something i'd expect to see on an Octarian army recruitment poster, whoever lives here must really support the Octarian army.'_

As he was thinking about this, he heard the sound of an E-Liter 3k firing, bright green ink landed beside him.

And swimming up to him was none other than his perky sniper friend Neon.

"Hiya!"

"Neon?! Why are you here?"

"I'm here to help obviously!" she then noticed Inker's damaged Ink Tank and Hero Suit "Whoa! You look like you swam through a woodchipper!"

"Nevermind that, how did you find me?"

As Inker asked this Victoria and Sky came running.

To answer Inker's question Neon threw one of her arms around Victoria "My good friend Victoria betrayed the Octarian army and led us here!"

In response Victoria shoved Neon aside "Don't say something like that out loud, I didn't betray the army, i'm just returning a favor!"

'_And betraying the army in doing so.' _Inker wanted to say

"Huff, We are not alone, Callie and Marie are here too. Huff" said Sky, who was out of breath from running after Neon.

"Yeah they went to go fight a few Octolings in a flying saucer and said they would meet us at the prison once they were done!" Neon explained

Inker felt happy '_So everyone came, Neon, Sky, Callie, Marie and Victoria too, thanks everyone, i'll treat you all to something once we are done here.'_

"Hey what are you daydreaming about? Let's go break Kal out of prison!" Neon said as she charged her E-liter, in order to make a trail of ink to swim in.

Inker looked to Victoria, who had previously been against Inklings leaving ink everywhere in this heavily populated Octarian city.

Knowing what he was about to ask, Victoria said "Cover all the turf you need, just don't mess up this time, oh and don't any of you mention my name while you are at Melanin prison, I don't want anyone finding out that I've been secretly helping you."

The sound of Neon's E-liter rang through the streets, as Neon swam ahead.

The group as still standing in front of a house so its no surprise that its occupant would come outside to investigate after hearing the loud E-liter.

It was an adult Octoling, and also the first male Octoling Inker had ever seen, he even had two tentacles coming out of his nose making a small mustache.

"What's going on? Huh? Is that you Victoria?"

An adult male coming out of the house Victoria grew up in, take a wild guess as to who this Octoling is.

Neon brought up her E-liter to fire at that Octoling who had just came out of the house, but Inker, Sky and Victoria all grabbed her weapon.

"That's not even a soldier! Don't go around shooting everyone in Octo Valley!" Inker yelled

"Are you deprived of sleep again?" Sky said

"I won't let you splat innocent Octarians!" Victoria yelled "come on! Melanin prison is that way, just ignore the bystanders and follow me!"

Victoria lead the others away from the Undercity, hoping that her father would not sell her out to the authorities.

A couple minutes later Melanin prison was in sight.

"Alright, you know the way from here." Victoria said, having no intention of fighting other Octarians.

"Thanks alot, hey don't be afraid to drop by Inkopolis sometime!" Inker said as he, Neon and sky waved goodbye to Victoria.

'_Inviting me to visit Inkopolis, did he forget that most Inklings still see Octarians as natural enemies?'_

With Victoria gone, Inker, Sky and Neon prepared to fight through Melanin prison.

As expected there were guards all over the place, mostly Octolings and Octotroopers, some shielded.

Knowing that this was probably his friends' first mission in Octo valley Inker decided to take on a leader role.

"Okay we should stay together, unlike in Turf Wars we don't change colour so be careful not to hit each other, a place like this should be crawling with Octarians so…" he was interrupted as soon as he mentioned: "crawling with Octarians".

"ALRIGHT! heeeeyyyaaaAAAAAAAAAA!"

Surging ahead of the group like an arrow was Neon, who should have been the one providing cover fire from afar.

"Idiot" Sky muttered

Inker sighed, Neon was no different here.

"Come on we can't let her leave us behind, watch her back and try to keep the enemy in front of her."

'Okay"

The two ran after Neon, who was charging towards Melanin prison's front gate.


	9. Prison Break

**Melanin prison, Octo Valley**

Kal sat alone in his cell, as usual all he had to eat was stale seaweed.

Of course things were different this time, as promised the Octolings he talked to earlier had attached a map of the prison to the bottom of the plate of seaweed.

The writting on the map was written in the Octarian language so Kal couldn't understand the words. However were several areas circled on it, indicating where other Inklings were held, as well as an arrow pointing to were Kal was now. Kal made sure to keep the map out of view from the guards and camera, otherwise the guards might barge in and interrogate him.

* * *

In another area was another imprisoned Inkling, Lila.

She had been in the infirmary for a few days now and to her surprise she was treated well.

Unlike the prison cells, the infirmary was relatively clean, the food served to her was actually warm and edible, an old T.V allowed for some sort of entertainment, even though the channels were limited and music was always being played at a low volume during the daytime. The captain of the guard's aide frequently visited her to check on her condition.

Lila smiled as the familiar looking Octoling stepped into the room, carrying her breakfast.

"Good morning Claire."

The two were already on friendly terms.

"Good morning Lila, feeling any better today?"

"No, I still feel awful."

"So same as usual huh, you'll get better, don't worry."

Watching this friendly conversation from a live feed was the captain of the guard.

She hadn't told anyone else yet, but this scarred young Inkling was the perfect candidate for a sleeper agent

* * *

Meanwhile patrolling the outer walls of Melanin prison were shielded Octotroopers and Octolings, they were supposed to have a squad of Elites backing them up since Agent 3 was near, but Octavia had pulled them all back to the Undercity to fan out in search of Agent 3.

One particular Octoling looked somewhat nervous, it was Madison, one of three Octolings who planned to make a deal with their red Inkling prisoner to keep Agent 3 away from their families.

'_Funny how different you feel after doing something that borderlined treason.'_ Madison thought as she watched the nearby guards.

'_Nobody has come after me yet so I guess that means Lynn got that Inkling back to his cell without drawing attention and Claire should have got the map into the dumbwaiter by now.'_

As she was thinking she and the other nearby guards heard what sounded like someone screaming.

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

"?"

Hearing this, all the nearby Octotroopers and Octolings gathered together and looked in the direction of the sound.

"aaaaaaaaaa!"

It was getting closer

"aaaaAAAAAAAAAA!"

A green Inkling was making a beeline for the prison.

"Everyone quick, into positions!"

Since Melanin prison was surrounded mostly by concrete walls with water running down them, the fastest way for an Inkling to get through was through the front gate, which was made of chain link.

Anticipating this the nearby guards converged on the front gate, though they were surprised that an Inkling would be brave and stupid enough to make such a loud entrance.

"Wait isn't Agent 3 blue?_'_ Madison wondered

"Who cares!? just get ready to fire!"

Some waited patiently while others already begun spraying their weapons at the incoming Inkling.

The ones who waited were the ones who were suspicious, they were taught that Inklings are a dangerous foe, why would one try such s suicidal head on attack?

The answer came soon enough

As soon as the Inkling was within range, it transformed, but not into squid form, it became something much bigger; a Kraken.

The Inkling in Kraken form was none other than Neon, who had covered a lot of turf earlier so she had been eager to use her special.

Neon passed through the front gate like it was nothing, she crushed a few Octotroopers who were too slow to move out of the way.

The Octolings and Octotroopers went into a panic, some ran, some shot at Neon and some did both.

At this moment, shooting Neon had no effect as Krakens were impervious to damage, however they did suffer from knockback upon being hit.

Neon however wasn't really bothered by the knockback, because the panicking guards were firing at her from all around and most of them were retreating, mostly because they were unaware that the Kraken special lasted for about six seconds.

After a very short rampage Neon passed back through the front gate before turning back into a regular squid.

"She's back to normal, everyone get her!"

As the Octotroopers and Octolings all turned back to fire at Neon she jumped away to a Squid Beakon she had dropped while running towards the prison.

The guards could only watch as Neon flew away, before realising that Agent 3 and another Inkling had arrived.

Inker and Sky, who had been expecting Neon to run into trouble were surprised to see her superjumping over them and giving them a booyah.

As this happened, a loud siren could be heard, alerting all the guards of Melanin prison to the presence of intruders.

"Well, there's no way we can sneak in now, for now we need to find some way in."

Aside from the front gate scaling the walls was the only other way inside, however Melanin prison's water walls made that a difficult task.

At least there was only water on one side, so escaping from inside should be easier.

Inker did not go for the front gate, instead he circled the walls looking for something, Sky followed him.

That something was a metal cap with a red knob, a Gusher to be exact, an object found somewhat often in Octo Valley.

Who knows why the Octarians built these everywhere, at least they always seemed to be conveniently placed to give an advantage to the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

Inker shot the Gusher making blue ink gush skyward.

"Whoa!" Sky exclaimed upon seeing a Gusher burst for the first time.

"Just wait a while and the ink will stop, then hit with again and it will burst ink in your colour, then just jump inside at it will carry you to the top."

Inker hopped into the blue pillar of ink and successfully making it over the walls.

He was immediately faced with a shielded Octotrooper, but Inker, having fought shielded Octotroopers many times in the past had no trouble getting behind it and splatting it.

Inker waited for Sky to arrive, fending off any incoming Octolings or Octotroopers.

A moment later Sky came flying over the walls, holding one of Neon's Squid Beakons.

Neon superjumped over the walls to join Inker and Sky.

She was probably going to say something but then caught sight of approaching Octarians and went off on her own again.

Neon fired her E-Liter at the wall she just jumped over, there was no water running down the walls on this side so she able to swim up the trail of ink left behind, she then moved towards the Octolings that had survived her Kraken special and were approaching them now.

Sky was about to run ahead to try and help Neon when he felt Inker hand on his shoulder, Inker was holding him back.

"I think Neon can handle herself."

"What? Didn't you say to follow her and help her out?"

"Yes, but now I think Neon is more capable than we expected, look."

Inker pointed at Neon, who was standing on the prison walls and firing down at a few Octolings, and Octotroopers.

Octotroopers could not climb ink trails like Octolings could so Neon was safe from them as long as she stayed on the wall.

The Octolings were close enough to Neon to hit her, but they could not shoot high enough and were only hitting the wall, Neon seemed to have noticed this because she wasn't bothered by their attacks and calmly fired again and again.

If this was Turf wars and Neon was facing Inklings with Splattershots they would have covered the wall with ink and climbed up to face Neon at close range, but for some reason the Octolings did not do that and kept firing.

"Every Octoling I've fought so far has had trouble shooting upwards at elevated targets and somehow Neon seems to know this."

"So you're saying we can leave her on her own?"

"Yes, she will probably draw lots of attention like this, so we should take advantage of her distraction and go look for Kal inside the prison."

With that, Inker left Neon to fight by herself, while he started looking for a way inside.

There were several doors into the building, but since guards were likely to be coming outside Inker decided to find a way in through the roof.

Inker and Sky made their way towards an air vent.

"Just like the movies." Inker said before passing through the cover in squid form.

* * *

Meanwhile in the security room, the captain of the guard lept into action as soon as she heard the alarm.

"Get the Acting leader on the line!"

"I'm on it."

"You two, go to the infirmary and get my camp adjutant back here."

"Right away."

The captain then went over to the intercoms

"Several Inkling intruders have been spotted inside the prison walls! All hands prepare to repel invaders!"

The captain and the other Octolings in the room each grabbed their Octoshots and prepared to fight.

"Ma'am i've reached Nautilus base's camp adjutant, she says the Acting Leader is unavailable at the moment."

"Well then ask her where the heck are the other Elites that were supposed to be helping us?!"

The Octoling on the phone quickly relayed the captain's question.

"They are spread out all over the Undercity, aside from that all Octolings from Nautilus are also spread out in the lairs, they were supposed to be on the lookout for Inklings."

"What the heck is the Acting Leader doing at this time?"

"Returning from combat, apparently she ran into some other Inklings while searching for Agent 3."

Realising that she would have no help from the army, the captain of the guard pounded the wall before giving more orders.

"All of you follow me to the infirmary, I don't want any Inkling getting near the one who survived the boiling pit."

"?"

The Octolings in the room looked confused, this was because only the Elites knew about brainwashing, so they had no idea why Lila was being kept alive in the first place.

"Umm, captain should we really be focusing on that one Inkling? Wouldn't the cells be the larger priority?"

"Not this time, I won't say much, but the mind is like a machine; it can be rewired, we just need the right amount of time."

"?"

The Octolings still didn't really understand why the infirmary was their top priority but still followed orders and left with the captain.

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

As soon as Octavia's saucer landed, the camp adjutant ran over.

"Acting leader, we got an emergency transmission from Melanin prison, several Inklings have broken in."

"Impossible! I just fought against Agent 1&2! And Agent 3 should be injured somewhere in the Undercity! How many of them are there?"

"We are unsure at the moment, the captain wanted to know why the Elites that were supposed to be helping are nowhere near Melanin prison."

"They were looking for Agent 3! How could so many Inklings navigate the large and heavily populated Undercity without ever coming here before? Whatever! Refuel the saucer and get as many troops inside as you can. Get the Octocopters and Octobombers ready as well, we move for Melanin at once!"

Overly eager Octarian soldiers all over Nautilus scrambled to get a place inside the saucer, with the saucer's maintenance crew hurried to get a fuel tanker over.

Octocopters and Octobombers took off immediately.

Watching her soldiers scramble Octavia could not help but feel that something was off.

'_Agents 1, 2 and 3, and other Inklings, how could they get to Melanin so quick?"_

* * *

**Melanin Prison, Octo Valley**

The first thing Inker saw after dropping down from the vents was a grate over a pool of water, Inker quickly changed out of squid form to avoid falling through, before catching Sky, who stayed in squid form.

"Careful now, there's water below here"

Inker glanced around, what room was this? It looked like they had fallen into some sort of pit.

Oh well, there wasn't really an issue since Inker and Sky could just cover the sides of the pit and swim out of it.

Now inside the prison, Inker and Sky found themselves in an unfamiliar looking structure.

Neither of them had been inside a prison before, nor an Octarian building before.

The signs that were hung above doors, or around corners didn't help since they were written in another language.

There were also Octarian guards hastily moving around heading to their designated positions, Inker wasted no time splatting the ones who crossed paths with him.

It took a while, and a few wrong turns, but Inker and Sky finally found Kal's cell.

Inker splatted the two Octotroopers standing outside.

Kal had noticed and had moved to the door, he was saying something but Inker couldn't hear him.

"What?"

"-"

"I can't hear you, hold on let me find a way to unlock the cell."

Assuming that the button next to the cell would do something convenient, Inker pressed it right away.

There was a buzzing sound, then Inker tried the door, but it was still locked.

"Still locked."

"Hey I can hear you now!"

"Same here! That button did something at least."

The button inker had pressed was the power button for the two way communicator.

Since they could now hear each other Kal immediately repeated what he said earlier.

"Anyways I happened to get a map of the prison, from a few Octolings who wanted me to keep you away from certain places in Octo Valley,. Also no offense, but why did it take you so long to get here?"

"We'll talk about that after we get you out of here."

"Right, the Octoling guards seemed to be able to unlock the cell whenever they wanted so they must definitely have a key or something."

"Got it, be right back."

Inker and Sky back tracked to the last place he had encountered Octolings, just like Inklings, Octolings leave their gear behind after being splatted.

"What are we doing back here?" Sky wondered

"We need to find a key or something right? If the Octolings here could enter the cells like Kal said they could, we should be able to find something if we search the gear of the splatted Octolings."

Inker immediately started searching, however Sky was a bit less comfortable with this and stood by.

"Umm, isn't it kind of disrespectful to be going through someone's gear?"

Inker didn't stop, he grabbed anything that looked like it had pockets and checked them.

"Also, the owners of this gear were female so isn't it kinda wrong for two guys to be going through it?"

"If your uncomfortable with searching that's fine, watch that corner, I hear something approaching."

After Inker had mentioned it Sky noticed as well, the sound of Octarian hovercrafts were approaching.

Sky took a defensive stance and brought his roller off the ground, he was still nervous about fighting and was breathing heavily.

Three Octotroopers rounded the corner on their little hovercrafts, Sky steeled himself, closed his eyes, and charged at them with his roller the moment he saw them.

Sky didn't roll his roller on the ground, nor did he fling Ink at the Octotroopers, instead he simply brought the Roller up to chest level, closed his eyes and ran into the Octotroopers, this way he wouldn't splat any of them.

"Sorry sorry sorry sorry." Sky muttered as the two Octotroopers he hit fell over and wiggled their feet trying to get back up.

Inker on the other hand had finished searching the Octoling gear, he grabbed his Hero Shot and blasted the third Octotrooper before going back to Kal's cell with a bunch of stuff that looked like they'd be keys.

After trying a bunch of different keys, and key like objects, Kal's cell was finally unlocked.

The heavy metal door which kept him trapped for so long swung open, KAl was greeted with the faces of his two friends, he felt a wave of happiness washing over him.

"I'm free!"

"We still need to find a way out of here, don't celebrate yet."

Inker was in full Agent mode, normally he'd be much less serious if this was Turf Wars.

Kal showed Inker the map he had received "before we go, there are more Inklings held here, and here."

"Alright, i'll go rescue them, Sky do you think you can find an exit and join up with Neon?"

"Umm, I could try but."

"If you're not sure then stay with me."

"Got it."

* * *

"Captain, we have assembled."

The captain of the guard now had ten Octolings with her, they were guarding the area near the infirmary.

Most of the guards understood that their commanding officer must have some sort of plan in mind if she wanted to prevent this one specific Inkling from escaping, so none of them questioned their orders.

Claire, who had been sent back to communications to keep in touch with Nautilus base arrived running.

"Captain I just got off the line with Nautilus, Octarian airborne troops will be arriving in less than half an hour, do you want us to buy time for them?"

"No, the ones who have gathered here will stay near the infirmary, have the others draw attention away from us."

"Yes ma'am, also we lost contact with all units outside the building, we have no idea if anyone outside is still standing."

"We will worry about that later, return to communications and update me on any other developpements."

At the front gate, the last Octarian fell.

With time to catch their breaths Neon, as well as Callie and Marie who had arrived not too long ago, eyed the many doors on the main building.

Inker would be coming out of one soon.

Neon hopped down from her spot on the prison walls and looked back at the two Agents.

"Well? Shouldn't we go inside and look for Inker?"

It was as if Neon had unlimited amount of energy.

"We could, but we would likely get lost, and if Inker finds his way out while we are inside we have no way of knowing, after all Inker's equipment is damaged and we can't communicate with him."

"So all we can do is wait? Aww I should have gone inside."

* * *

"Click"

"Thank you!"

An Inkling happy to be rescued pounced on Inker and hugged him tightly.

When he broke free of the Inkling's embrace Inker checked Kal map one last time.

"Looks like that's all of them."

Aside from Kal there were eight other Inklings of varying colours who were just rescued.

"Wait, there's someone missing."

Kal hadn't realized it earlier, but Lila wasn't among those rescued, according to those three from earlier, she should be in the infirmary.

Kal took the map back from Inker, unfortunately the infirmary was not circled and since no Inkling could read Octarian writing there was no way they could find Lila.

"Did any of you happen to see a room that looked like an infirmary?" Kal asked everyone present

Everyone shook their heads.

Inker however gestured at everyone to follow him

"I can't protect a group as large as this, we need to leave as soon as we can, who knows where the remaining guards could be?"

Inker couldn't read Octarian writing, but at least he could guess where the closest exit was by looking at the map.

"Everyone stay close, don't get left behind."

Inker led the way, Sky was the furthest back, making sure nobody came at them from behind.

Kal however kept glancing around, as if looking for something

"What's wrong?" Sky asked

"There was another Inkling, a girl with light purple tentacles, she's not here, so she should have been in the infirmary."

'_Light purple? Laven was that colour, it must be his sister, but'_

"Why would she be in the infirmary."

"The Octarians had something called the boiling pit, she was thrown in there and made it out alive, she has to be in the infirmary."

"The boiling pit? What is that?"

"I don't know, I never saw it, but apparently Lila, the Inkling i'm looking for was the first to survive it, i'm guessing it's something the Octarians use for executions."

The name "boiling pit" was already enough to make Sky shudder, and Kal said it was something used for executions, Sky hoped he would never find out what it was.

Inker led the group to an exit and the captured Inklings hastily left the building.

"SWEET FREEDOM!" somebody cried out.

Inker could see Neon, Callie and Marie waving to them from the front gate.

"Is that everyone?" Marie asked

Inker nodded

"No its not" Kal replied

Inker turn to Kal, confused

"Its not?"

"We left at least one Inkling behind, Lila."

"We need to get out of here first, no doubt the Octarian army will be on there way by now, and this big group will be far too easy to spot."

"But we can't leave Lila behind."

"We'll come back for her later, for now we need to at least get the the Undercity and hide in the streets."

Since the prisoners had no weapons to cover turf with, the group had to run back to the Undercity.

As they were running, Inker turned to Callie and Marie and brought up an important issue..

"The New Squidbeak Splatoon was supposed to be kept secret, how are we going to do that with this many witnesses?"

In the past, the New Squidbeak Splatoon's existance being known would not cause too many problems, but now it would.

The Inklings who were captured by the Octarians would be interrogated by news reporters once they returned, if the Inkopolis population found out that the Octarians were the ones squidnapping Inklings they would naturally feel endangered, this was inevitable.

But fear would drive Inklings to violence, if they happened to find out that there was a group like the New Squidbeak Splatoon actively fighting the Octarians they would think, 'I can do that too! After all I play turf wars often.'

If such a thing happened, a second Great Turf war would break out.

Without the Great Octoweapons the Octarians would be at a disadvantage but the winners of the war was not the issue here.

The issue would be the overly zealous Inklings fighting in a heavily populated area like the Undercity. The Octarians might have been the enemy of the Inklings, but that didn't mean all of them had to die.

If a second war broke out right now, the Inklings would reach the Undercity in no time, after all, Inker had already cleared all the lairs defending it.

After that there would be a ton of innocents caught in the crossfire.

The Octarians would probably move to another underground city, and they would end up hating the Inklings even more, and more Octarians would take up arms against Inkopolis, peace would become unobtainable.

The prevent such an event from happening, Inker, Callie and Marie had to come up with a cover story, and fast.

* * *

**Melanin prison, twenty minutes later…**

The Octarian saucer descended near Melanin prison, all sorts of Octarians came out and joined the surviving guards, who were collecting the gear of those who had perished and mourn the loss of their comrades.

Octavia approached the captain of the guard, with two other Elite Octolings at her side.

"Explain yourself."

"Ma'am Agent 3 and four other Inklings attacked the prison with a variety of weapons and they succeeded in freeing most of the Inklings we had captured."

"I see, and what were the rest of you doing while this was happening?"

"I had ordered a handful of the guards to defend one specific Inkling, this specific one is recovering after surviving the boiling pit and undergoing re-education."

"So in other words, instead of buying us time to arrive and nab all of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, you were all busying with guarding a single Inkling?"

"Ma'am I believe that this specific Inkling would be most useful once the re-education process is finished."

"Enough of that! These Inklings were supposed to be bait for the troublesome New Squidbeak Splatoon and the Inkling Army, I do not recall ever ordering you to re-educate anyone!"

"But ma'am this Inkling survived the boiling pit scarred and injured, if she were to return to Inkopolis nobody would suspect her to help those who tortured her, she could become a very useful sleeper agent if-"

"I don't want to hear any of that, the Inklings will be defeated by our might, and not by their own people. Use that inkling as bait and set up an ambush for Agent 3, and this time use all your remaining troops, I don't want to see you fail again understood!?"

The captain grit her teeth

'_You're the one who got impatient and pulled the Elites back to the Undercity to find Agent 3 instead of waiting for them to arrive at the prison. You're the one who went out to fight Inklings instead of staying at the base ready to give orders and you're responsible for every soldier I lost here today.'_

The captain took a deep breath

"As you command, Acting Leader."

The captain of the guard and the remaining Melanin prison guards returned inside the prison to retrieve Lila.

Octavia turned to the Elites around her

"Get a news crew here A.S.A.P broadcast what had happened here, but do not make it seem like we were easily defeated. Also I want the Octocopters to search the Undercity for any sign of the Inklings, they won't do much good in urban area's though, so call back the Octolings we sent out to the lair and have them comb the Undercity's streets."

"Right away!"

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

The first thing Victoria saw when she returned home was Violet packing a suitcase.

"Umm what are you doing?"

"Leaving"

Violet had packed all her stuff was was prepared to leave.

"Why, and where would you go?"

"I don't know, I just need to get away from here, look at this."

Violet turned on the barely functional TV

"-nd almost half of the prison's staff were lost and as a result, the Inklings; numbering in the dozens, are heavily armed and are believed to have equipped the prisoners with weapons as well, citizens should stay off the streets as the large group of armed Inklings will be passing through the Undercity shortly, Octocopters have-"

The news report showed the pile of gear left behind by the splatted Octarians, a few Octotroopers who were covered in Cyan ink, opened cells and Inkling Ink trails of many colours all over the prison.

"That's what happens when Agent 3 comes to Octo Valley."

"Listen, I know you think that Inker and the other Inklings-"

"Other Inklings? So you helped more than one?"

"Yes but-"

"Look at that!" Violet pointed at the TV screen "you are responsible for everything that is happening."

"Look, there's a good reason for this."

"I'm not going to hear it, the army will find out that you helped them sooner or later, and I don't want to be anywhere near you when that happens."

"WILL YOU LET ME EXPLAIN! Listen, I know you're worried for your own safety, but be honest, if you do leave where would you go? Aside from that, this was a one time thing, if I didn't help Agent 3 and the others move through the Undercity who knows how many Octarians could have been hurt."

Violet stopped at the door, Victoria was right, she didn't have anywhere else to go and armed Inklings wandering the heavily populated Undercity splet trouble for its citizens.

"Just promise me that something like this will never happen again."

"I promise. Anyways relax a bit, I took all the necessary precautions, no one will know that I helped the Inklings."

* * *

Another Octocopter flew overhead, its eyes darting around, searching for Inklings.

Inker, Sky, Kal, Neon, Callie, Marie and all the rescued Inklings hid in an alleyway when they heard the Octocopter approaching.

It was hard to move around in this large group.

"We nearly got spotted three times in less than an hour, at this rate we won't be out of the Undercity until tomorrow."

Inker was worried, if they got into a fight now they would lose someone.

Their group numbered fourteen Inklings, nine of them unarmed and after seeing Sky's behavior inside the prison Inker was sure that he wouldn't be able to fight well.

"This won't work." somebody whispered to Inker

It was Maire

"The outer area of the Undercity have small houses, we won't be able to hide there, and if there are Octocopters flying around there ought to be Octarians on the ground somewhere."

Inker knew exactly what Marie was getting at.

There was no doubt that whoever in charge of Melanin prison would have called for reinforcements, and considering how many Elites Inker ran into the first time he tried to attack Melanin prison it must have been something important to the Octarians.

In order to get everyone back to Inkopolis safely, someone would need to draw attention to themselves.

Inker checked the wounds on his legs, he had gotten used to the pain by now and was walking without problem, but he needed to get proper treatment for it soon.

However he was a target of the highest priority for the Octarian army

"I'll go draw attention away from you guys."

Inker said in a low voice, so that only he and the other two Agents could hear.

"I disagree Agent 3."

His fellow Agents weren't about to let him go in his current condition.

"Yes we are probably priority targets too, we can draw attention away, you get these guys back to Inkopolis."

"And if you go, who will protect the group? Sky won't fight, Neon will probably run into trouble, I only have damaged equipment and Kal and the others have no weapons. There's no guarantee that the distraction will work."

"Then only one of us should go."

"Nah you two go back, after all won't everyone in Inkopolis become suspicious if the stars of Inkopolis news time doesn't show up tomorrow?"

"Ahh."

The two celebrities were so caught up in this rescue mission that they forgot all about their schedules.

"Just head back to the Rig and wait for me there, there shouldn't be any Octarains there at the moment."

The Squid sisters didn't want to let Inker go alone in his current state, but it's true that they had to run a show and keep the New Squidbeak Splatoon secret.

"Okay then, we'll be waiting."

Inker turned to Kal, Neon and Sky.

"I'm going to stay and be the distraction, I'll see you in Inkopolis."

"I'm not going back yet."

Everyone turned to Kal who had just said something ridiculous.

'_I promised that i'd keep Lila safe, so I need to go back as soon as possible.'_

"Right! You didn't really get to fight at all! Take Sky's Roller since he is too cowardly to fight and we'll go help Inker!"

As usual Neon never shied away from fighting.

"It's not because of that! Listen there is one more Inkling in Melanin prison and I want to go back for her."

Sky spoke up

"I remember you telling me about that, Lila right?"

Kal nodded

'_I'm pretty sure I heard Laven mutter Lila several times before'_

"Inker, I'm pretty sure that Lila was Laven's missing sister, that guy was really kicking himself for losing her the last time I saw him."

"I'll see what I can do about that, but for now we should save what we can."

"If you're staying, then so will I, after all you look hurt."

"I wouldn't mind you helping out, but you don't have any weapons right now."

"He can take mine."

Sky gave Kal his Splat Roller.

"Fighting in Octo Valley is way different, keep that in mind."

"You're giving me your Roller?"

"Yes, Turf Wars in nothing compared to Octo Valley, besides by now I have enough cash to buy a new set."

Sky emptied his Ink tank and handed it to Kal, along with his Suction Bombs and Killer Wail.

"If you're giving Kal a farewell gift I should do the same! Inker take my Ink Tank to replace your damaged one."

"Hey don't call it a farewell gift, you make it sound like we are not coming back."

Inker however had no complaints with replacing his damaged Ink Tank.

"What a surprise." Sky muttered

"What?"

"Considering what happened earlier, I was expecting you to abandon us go with Inker and fight." Sky remarked

"I will! After we get back to Inkopolis, I'm getting a spare Ink Tank and coming right back! Also I admit I make a mistake back then, so forget about it okay?"

Inker, Kal, Sky and Neon all smiled, that conversation made everything feel normal even though they were still hiding in an alleyway.

"Well then it's settled, Kal and Agent 3 will head in the opposite direction and draw attention away from us, good luck."

"Don't forget, we'll be at the Rig by tomorrow, if we aren't there then come and look for us okay?"

"Absolutely!" Neon exclaimed

Inker made his way onto the roof of the large Octarian buildings with Kal following suit, it wasn't long before an Octocopter spotted them.

Back on the ground, Callie, Marie, Sky and Neon saw several Octocopters give chase, leaving the skies clear for them.

"All clear, let's go.'


	10. Return

**Melanin prison, Octo Valley**

Having missed the battle, the only thing that the reinforcements could do now was help with the clean up or search for the Inklings.

The Octocopters and Octobombers who could fly took care of this task, thus the Octotroopers, Octosnipers and Octolings spent their time piling together the equipment left behind by those who fell in battle.

This was standard procedure for the Octarian army, they needed to retrieve all the equipment they could so that they can estimate how many troops they lost.

Inside Melanin prison, where clean up crews were busy putting sets of equipment together, Lynn and Claire were summoned to their captain's office.

They greeted the Octotroopers guarding the office before heading inside to see the captain of the guard.

As soon as the door was closed, the captain of the guard spoke.

"Do any of you know why you are here?"

"No ma'am" both of them replied, however both could already guess why they were summoned here.

The captain of the guard picked up a pair of octoling goggles off her desk.

"One of your fellow guards brought me this, I assume you know the standard clean up procedure following battles?"

Both Claire and Lynn nodded

The clean up procedure included cleaning up the ink splattered everywhere, as well as recovering the equipment left behind by those who had been splatted.

There was also the task of identifying the recently deceased, Octotroopers could be identified by their hovercrafts, Octocopters and Octobombers always engraved their names inside their helmets to prevent mixing them up with others, as for the Octosnipers and Octolings, the goggles they wore recorded everything they saw and heard and it would save footage whenever it was removed for over an hour, or in this case, if the owner was splatted while wearing it.

So it was no surprise that some would be told to watch the recorded footage to determine the owner of the gear left behind.

The pair of goggles that the captain of the guard held belonged to Madison.

"Your comrade here was outside when the Inklings attacked, these goggles recorded the whole battle, however it also recorded something else."

Octoling goggles could store up to 72 hours of footage, and would automatically record whenever someone was wearing it.

"I know what the three of you did, but I don't know why, so i'm giving you one chance to explain."

Claire and Lynn looked at each other.

No wonder they couldn't find Madison after the attack, if only they knew what happened, then they could have tried to hide her goggles.

Living beings die every day, the Octarians had long accepted this and often weren't phased when someone died in any way, the only ones who would mourn would be the family of the deceased or someone who loved them deeply, everyone else would probably just say "that's too bad" and move on.

Thus Madison being splatted was only an inconvenience for these two.

With a clam expression Lynn explained their motive to the captain.

"We didn't mean any harm, we just thought that Agent 3 would get here sooner or later, so the best thing to do would be to get him to leave as soon as he could."

"Aside from that, our families already struggle to live on everyday so we figured we could also ask the red Inkling to keep Agent 3 away from them should he ever attack the Undercity directly." Claire added.

The captain of the guard looked at her two subordinates, neither of them seemed to regret what they did.

That was understandable, in a world where the city could fall apart and crush you in a moment's notice, you'd want to protect those who will remember your name once you've passed on.

And in Octo Valley, only your family or loved one would do such a thing.

"Both of you pack your bags and leave."

Lynn and Claire's expression both turned to ones of worry.

"We are being discharged?"

It was one thing being executed, but being sent away was considerably worse, jobs other than soldier were hard to come by in Octo Valley, and living to see your family starve or be buried alive when their home collapses without being able to do anything to help was just as bad as death.

Luckily the captain wasn't planning on leaving her subordinates to such a fate.

"You are not being discharged, I'm sending you away incase somebody else decides to look through your accomplice's goggles before they are wiped and redistributed to new recruits."

Not losing their jobs was a relief, but there were still other issues.

"What about our families? Also where would we go?" Claire asked

"I'm your commanding officer, I can choose to grant you paid leave. Back when power was plentiful, there was a place called Octo Canyon, a popular place for tourists, it was abandoned as power ran out, but when Agent 3 started stealing Zapfish, the reserve army was sent there to set up a few lairs there incase the army ever needed to abandon Octo Valley. You don't need to live there, just stay there for a week or so then come back, by then all evidence of your interaction with that Inkling should have been erased."

"Thank you."

"I should be thanking you three, because Agent 3 knew where the occupied cells were, he never came close to the infirmary. To bad its gone to waste, since the Acting Leader, in all her wisdom, has decided to use Lila as bait instead of letting us finish her re-education, what a waste."

'_Did she just criticize the Acting Leader?'_ both Claire and Lynn thought after hearing that last bit.

In the past nobody spoke out against their leader Octavio, who was loved by most of the Octarians and those who did not like him kept quiet out of fear.

Octavia on the other hand, was accepted as a temporary leader so nobody saw her as Octavio's replacement, but still she had a lot of power so nobody would dare speak against her.

"I'm sure the Acting Leader has something else in mind, after all Lila should be partially controllable by now, and besides DJ Octavio will be back soon." Claire said

"I'd hope so, Octavia doesn't seem to learn from mistakes at all and sticks to her failed plans regardless of the outcome."

"Well then, I believe you will make the right calls when we are called to battle, Melanin prison is likely going to be abandoned now and we will go back to being a combat unit and I would like to remind you that everyone one of us is loyal to you first and not DJ Octavio, the Acting Leader or anyone else."

The captain smiled

"I appreciate that, it good to know there are those I can really count on, however for now it's best that both of you leave Octo Valley for a while, hopefully DJ Octavio will have returned by then."

'_Yes that's right, Octavia is nothing but an Acting leader, she'll be gone as soon and DJ Octavio breaks free.'_

After saluting their captain, Lynn and Claire left her to her own business.

The captain had more than just Madison's goggles, she had three other pairs, if one were to defeat their enemy, they would first need to know their enemy.

The captain saw footage of a bright green Inkling becoming a Kraken and superjumping, she saw Agent 3 splat Octotroopers and Octolings quickly with his Hero Shot, she saw Agent 1and Agent 2 join the green one to wipe out the guards outside and finally she saw Agent 3 and a Cyan Inkling fighting inside Melanin prison.

She could see that Inklings knew to cover turf in their own ink and move around to avoid being hit, Octolings with their tried and true Octoshots should be an even match, unfortunately the majority of them lacked combat experience.

'_Not only that, but we are losing more and more Elite Octolings who are actually skilled and Octavia handing out the title of Elite Octoling to those who did not go through harsh training isn't helping.'_

Unlike their Octosnipers, Inkling Snipers could move around and carried bombs making them vastly superior to their stationary Octosnipers.

However judging from the footage, the sniper weapon used by Agent 2 had less range than the ones used by Octosnipers.

The third weapon used was most interesting.

Agent 1 and the Cyan Inkling used it, a large weapon resembling a Paint Roller, Agent 1 used it to fling globs of Ink and run down Octarians who got too far from their teammates. The Cyan Inkling didn't seem to do much with it however they did find those injured Octotroopers who had been knocked off their hovercrafts by that Inkling.

From what she saw, the captain concluded that despite how low tech it was, the paint roller weapon was useful against single targets in close quarters and could also help cover turf relatively quickly.

'_We have fought Inklings many times by now, how come nobody has ever thought to make a weapon like that?'_

The Octarians had previously designed a weapon called the Octobrush with similar functions, but it covered a much narrower area and the globs of ink that it flung were considered too weak to be effective, thus the Octobrush was phased out of the army in favor of the more traditional Octoshots.

'_Maybe with a few modifications to the obsolete Octobrush, we could have a new weapon for our Octolings, that could help us fight the Inklings almost as much as having a brainwashed spy.'_

Thus the Octarian armory manager received a request that day, ordering him to dig out and hand over any Octobrushes they could find.

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Amongst a large area covered with blue and red ink, with Octocopter helmets scattered about, an Inkling could be heard yawning loudly.

"Tired?"

"Definitely, I've been down here for days and haven't slept a wink."

Inker rubbed his eyes and shook himself awake, maybe he should have let Callie and Marie be the distraction.

'_Just one more day, then its back to Inkopolis.'_

As planned, Inker and Kal drew attention from the Octocopters searching for them and led them away from the other Inklings.

What worried him now was how after fighting off only five of them there were no more Octocopters in sight, the entire Octarian army was here, so they could have sent hundreds of Octocopters.

'_It should be obvious that we are a distraction, they probably realised it by now.'_

"There doesn't seem to be any more Octarians looking for us." Kal said

"Don't speak too soon."

Inker looked around trying to see if there were any more flying Octarians.

Nothing, the underground skies were clear.

'_Maybe there are Octotroopers and Octolings coming?'_

Inker peeked over the edge of the roof and saw nothing but empty streets.

The Octarain army had probably warned everyone to stay indoors as there were Inklings around.

'_Skies and streets are clear, am I just being paranoid?'_

He wasn't just worried about being tailed, he was also concerned about the wounds he got earlier.

'_Not good, I need to get back to Inkopolis soon. Maybe I really should have let Callie and Marie be the distraction.'_

"Are you looking for something?" Kal asked after noticing Inker glancing around.

"Just making sure no more Octarians are nearby, anyways since nobody seems to be following us, let's go back to Melanin prison."

Inker and Kal made their way towards Melanin prison once again, hopping down from the rooftops, covering the streets with ink swimming away.

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

Victoria had not expected to be called to action in the middle of the night, and judging but the tried looks on the other soldiers faces, neither were they.

Octarians in full combat gear were assembled quickly, put inside a saucer and sent off.

'_Good thing I recovered my goggles while Agent 3 and co were attacking Melanin, otherwise i'd probably be questioned for showing up without it.'_

Victoria and her splatoon were being deployed somewhere, she did not know where exactly.

Something else on her mind was why Octavia had called her splatoon instead of sending the ones already at Nautilus, there were at least four splatoons available at this time, even a low ranked Octarian like Victoria knew this.

'One or two splatoons guarding the base would be more than enough, so Octavia couldn't have be keeping four splatoons for security, could she?'

Victoria was getting less and less confident in the Acting Leader's abilities, after all Victoria had doubted the Acting Leader's course of action from the start.

'Agent 3 wants to work things out between our two races..'

She looked around the saucer at the other soldiers in her splatoon.

The usually energetic Octoballs who's job was to roll around everywhere were probably not used to being awake at this time, they all bunched up together forming a small pyramid and shut their eyes, maybe it's because they were all the same species of Octarian or because they were familiar with each other, but they trusted each other enough to bunch up together.

The Octolings were a familiar sight in all Octarian splatoons, since they weren't in battle they all sat around, without goggles on. Most of them were somehow looking forward to being deployed into battle, while others voiced their annoyance at failing to splat an Inkling during that huge scramble through the lairs.

Despite being talkative during breaks and while off duty, the Octosnipers were quiet. They were known for their patience, as expected of someone whose job was to stay in one position for hours, there were only four of them aboard, as each of them sat silently as if meditating.

The Octotroopers, both regular and twintacle ones, showed less enthusiasm then the Octolings, probably due to the knowledge that they are the least capable type of soldier, however a few of them still talked about proving themselves in combat.

And finally, there was the Octostriker flying the saucer, Octostrikers were getting rarer and rarer nowadays, in fact Victoria didn't know any other Octostrikers aside from him, this one in particular was a chatterbox, if he didn't have to fly the saucer, he'd probably being talking away and letting some sort of classified intel get loose in the process.

All in all they weren't as excited to fight as they were a few weeks ago, Victoria hoped they could stay this way, then they won't all run towards Inker and get splatted by him if they ever had to fight.

'_Then again, if they were ordered to do so, they'd probably do it, after all none of them knew what Agent 3 was really like, so in their minds they'd be doing the right thing.'._

After a few minutes of flying, the saucer landed at the place where Octavio previously kept the great zapfish.

Giant structures that resembled Subwoofers, Microphones and other music related equipment were scattered everywhere.

In the center of a massive platform, DJ Octavio's damaged Octobot King lay on its front, unpowered, its mean lasers, mighty fists and many Octorpedos rendered useless without the Great Zapfish.

On top of it was a cage containing a purple Inkling.

'_Looks like Inker didn't rescue everyone.'_

An elite was waiting for them.

"Alright listen up! Agent 3 will not doubt be coming for this last Inkling we have, so stay on your guard, there is not much in this area that could give Agent 3 an advantage, so do not be afraid and overwhelm Agent 3 when he arrives."

The Elite Octoling turned to the Octobot King.

"This is DJ Octavio's personal assault vehicle, it is unpowered, but is still large enough to hide your entire splatoon, stay hidden until Agent 3 is within range, if he does not show up today, another splatoon will take your place."

With that the Elite boarded the saucer that brought Victoria and co here and flew off.

Before long Victoria and the other troops squeezed themselves somewhere in the Octobot, the smaller Octarians hid inside the Discoballs while Victoria and the other Octolings had to crawl into the cockpit and press themselves against the walls to avoid being seen.

They waited in silence for quite some time, knowing that they were supposed to surprise Agent 3.

Some were nervous, others were excited, but they were all disciplined enough to keep their mouths shut for the hours that followed.

And just like before, Victoria was already concidering telling Inker about this trap layed out for him.

'_If Inker arrives today I should probably alert everyone early so their would be some distance between us and him, if he doesn't arrive today then i'll tell him not to walk into this little trap. Where would he be? Probably back in Inkopolis by now, looks like i'll need that helmet again.'_

More slow hours crept by, but Agent 3 did not show up.

That was because he had no idea Lila was brought here.

* * *

**Melanin prison, Octo Valley**

The captain of Melanin was already preparing to move her troops back to Nautilus when one of her Octolings came with urgent news.

"We've spotted Agent 3! he has returned!"

The guards were already prepared to leave and there was nothing important in Melanin now, so the captain was not pressed to defend it.

However protocol dictates that she contact Octavia immediately.

"There is no reason to occupy Melanin prison anymore, bring your splatoon back to Nautilus, we can monitor Agent 3 using the cameras all over Melanin and the city, in fact we are already doing so."

'_Well what do you know, maybe she does learn from her mistakes.'_

"Understood, we will not engage Agent 3 and leave unseen."

As Inker and Kal approached Melanin, the Octarians running the facility slipped away, heading back to the Undercity as Inker and Kal entered the now abandoned prison.

Since neither of them could read Octarian, Inker and Kal had to go through every inch of the prison to find the infirmary.

Kal, determined to find Lila showed no fear in seeing the place he was kept prisoner again, he and Inker checked room after room for a place that looked like an infirmary.

"It's too quiet, they probably have already moved her somewhere else." Inker suggested

"We can't be sure yet." Kalus didn't want Lila to be stuck here any longer, the way the Octarians treated Inklings was nothing enjoyable and he heard from Victoria, how dangerous the valley itself was.

If Lila wasn't here they would have to search for her another time, who knows what the Octarians might be doing to her.

Inker was glad to see his friend determined to help out, but he had another problem.

He had to get back to Inkopolis

"Kal, there is nothing here, we should start heading back now."

Inker said after they had gone through two more rooms.

"I'm not going back yet, we should look somewhere else."

"We can't do that, I told everyone that we'd be at the rig before the end of the day, it will take us several hours to get there so we should go now."

"Didn't you tell them to come looking for us if we didn't show? It will be fine if we don't go back, we'll just have to regroup in the city."

"I told them to do that incase we couldn't make it back, look at this."

Inker pulled open one of the tears on his hero suit, revealing a horizontal gash on the side of his chest, it was as if something tried to tear him apart, the wound was also starting to swell up, meaning it had probably been infected.

To Kal, who never really seen anything like it before, the sight of a swelling gash made him want to vomit.

"Eww, that looks really bad, when did this happen?"

"I got careless, when I first came to Melanin prison I walked into a bad situation and had to superjump without properly preparing."

"Are you crazy? You know some squids have been ripped apart doing that right? Why didn't you let Callie and Marie be the distraction if you like this?"

"I didn't expect you to try and rescue another Inkling, I thought that I'd have time to make it back to Inkopolis once everyone's made it to safety. Besides, Callie and Marie are celebrities, if any of them goes missing there would be an uproar, but if I go missing it will be fine."

Kal sighed, he wanted to rescue Lila, but he wasn't about to risk his friend's health either.

"In other words, you're saying you're worthless? Come on don't put yourself down like that. We will get back to Inkopolis, you are going to see a doctor and i'll come back to Octo Valley with Callie and Marie."

"If those two aren't busy, go ahead."

The duo left the abandoned Melanin Prison and headed for Inkopolis.

* * *

**Stage 26, The Rig, Octo Valley**

"Has it been a day yet? I can't tell with no sky down here."

Neon was probably looking forward to fighting their way to Inker and Kal.

The two had done their part and drew all the attention away from the main group, they had to had done well because Neon and the rest of the group encountered no resistance at all while making their way through the valley.

"Not yet, there is still time." Sky replied

Callie and Marie had left to bring all the rescued Inklings back to Inkopolis and also buy some food for the group.

"I expected you to head back to Inkopolis."

"So you could run off the moment Callie and Marie turned their backs on you? Not likely."

"You know, if I did run right now, I doubt you can catch up with me."

Hearing this, Sky leapt to his feet.

"I'm just kidding, jeez you really can't tell when i'm joking, this is why you're no fun."

Neon grabbed her E-liter and and started walking off.

"You aren't actually running off are you?"

"Of course not! Just what do you take me for? I'm bored so im going to look around."

"Don't do that, Callie and Marie told us to wait here."

"Come on, this place is as unfamiliar as the rest of Octo Valley, surely you're curious what this place is like."

"It's just some kind of abandoned factory right?"

"Maybe, but who knows what could be lying around."

"Don't get into trouble okay."

Not even a minute had passed when Sky heard the sounds of a weapon firing, he ran towards the sound, expecting Neon to be fighting off some Octarians.

Instead she was standing there with an Inkzooka, with green ink everywhere and a smile on her face.

"Look at this, there was just an Inkzooka in a can, lying around with no owner! And it works perfectly!"

Since the Inkzooka special only lasts about nine seconds, the Inkzooka Neon had found was now absolutely useless.

Not only that, but the noise must have attracted some sort of attention.

"You idiot! Why would shoot around randomly!? What if someone heard us?"

"Hey calm down, nobody is nearby, I'll go find another special."

"There's no time for that! Get somewhere high and tell me if any Octarians are coming! Ahh wait I don't have a weapon!"

Sky panicked upon realising he was defenseless, Neon sighed and found a structure to climb.

From her position, Neon could see almost the whole rig, there was no sign of Octarians anywhere.

"There's nobody in sight for miles! You can you can stop panicking now."

Sky breathed in relief and sat down. '_Guess we are too far away from any Octarians.'_

He was going to sit around and wait for Callie and Marie, but then he saw Neon hop down and run off somewhere again.

"Hey wait up!"

Now that he remembered he had no weapon it was crucial that he stay with Neon at all times.

"What the heck is this?"

Neon had found a black suitcase with a yellow handle.

"Somebody probably lost it here before Inker cleared this place out. Hey be careful with that! What if there's a bomb or something inside!"

Sky caught the suitcase that Neon had thrown away, he thought about trying to open it, but then decided to just hold on to it and chase after Neon.

This went on for quite some time.

* * *

"Were back! And we got burgers and pizza for all- hey where did they go?!"

Callie and Marie had returned but Neon and Sky were nowhere to be seen

They looked at each other and nodded, both knowing that they had to immediately look for the two Inklings.

The two celebrities swam through the abandoned factory like areas of the rig, until they finally found Sky and Neon crouched around something.

"There you are, why did you two run off?"

Sky stood up

"Sorry, I was going to bring Neon back to the spot you left us, but we found something, look at this."

Neon was looking through someone's gear and wallet.

"Hey don't take anything out of it! Give it to me."

Neon passed the wallet she was holding to Sky, who in turn, showed it to Callie and Marie.

Inside was a card which read 'Inkopolis Police' at the top.

"Detective Vert Brata, Inkopolis Police Department" Callie read "did you know him?"

Sky nodded.

"Look there's more."

Neon showed more wallets to Callie and Marie, each one containing an ID card for an Inkopolis police officer.

"Detective Vert was the one investigating the missing Inklings, last time I saw him he was suspecting Inker and had found out he was in Octo Valley." Sky told the rest

"I remember that too, I guess the Octarians weren't too friendly with Inkopolis authorities."

Marie nodded "The Inkopolis PD aren't supposed to be able to operate outside of Inkopolis, I guess Vert must have been certain about Inker or the Octarians having something to do with the squidnappings. He probably wasn't expecting the Octarian army to still be around, since there is nothing left of them aside from their gear, I doubt we would ever find out what happened to them."

Marie placed her hand on her heart, everyone else did the same.

"Rest in peace, departed Inklings, may you return someday in a new life."

"..."

"Umm, what's is going on here?"

The four Inklings looked up to see Kal standing there, Inker appeared shortly after.

He was clutching his side with one arm, it would appear that the wounds he obtained were really starting to hurt.

"Inker, look, it turns out Vert chased after you once you left for Octo Valley."

"Vert…."

"Umm who is Vert?" Kal, who had never met the detective, asked.

"I didn't really like that guy, he came off as a bit of a jerk, but I know that he was trying his best to solve the case quickly despite the lack of practice."

Inker then answered Kalus' question

"Vert was the detective in charge of finding the missing Inklings, including you, he suspected me and Lila's brother; Laven. Long story short, Laven ended up making a false confession and I went off to Octo Valley after hearing from Victoria that you were held there."

'_Victoria huh, I should thank her if I ever see her again.'_

The six Inklings stood by for a moment, not knowing what to do with the pile of gear that the deceased officers had left behind, then Inker came up with an idea.

"We needed to cover up the New Squidbeak Splatoon's involvement right? I guess we could give Det Vert and his officers the credit for rescuing the missing Inklings, where are the other Inklings anyway?"

"Gramps is keeping them company until we can think of a cover story."

"Well see if you can get them to play along, if everything goes well then nobody would come looking for us."

"Wait, so I won't get to talk about any of this?" Neon asked

"Of course not, were you planning on telling everyone that you fought against the Octarian army?"

"Yes…."

"Neon, this isn't a game okay, some things need to stay hidden, I'll explain why some other time, because right now I need to get to a doctor."

"A doctor?"

"Yes, I superjumped without proper preparations before I met up with you guys, remember how you said I looked like I swam through a woodchipper."

"Ohhhhhh, why didn't you say so earlier?! I would have gladly been the distraction in your place!"

"I think you would have wanted to be the distraction regardless of whether or not Inker was injured." Sky cut in. "Anyways, superjumping in an instant is dangerous, let's go back to Inkopolis for now."

Kal agreed

"Yes and once you are all rested up, I'm going back for Lila."

"I'm not coming back." Sky said

Neon had no objections "That's fine! I'll be glad to help you!"

"Umm, we have to go film a few more shots after being away for so long, I doubt we will have time to help out."

"Easy now, we still have no idea where they moved her, in the meantime, just go home and chill, I'll probably need a few days to heal anyways. Once i've recovered, I'll go look for the last Inkling."

"Alright, hey by the way you are probably hungry by now right? We got pizza and burgers."

Callie brought the food that she and Marie had bought in Inkopolis.

At the mention of food, Inker's stomach growled, despite his wounds hurting alot he still found the strength to leap to his feet and get food from Callie.

"Yes, please I'd have any of them, I didn't get to eat fresh food for days after I got stuck in Octo Valley."

"Just out of curiosity, what did you eat while you were in Octo Valley."

"I'll tell you later, please give me something."

Kal jumped in as well

"I haven't had anything but stale seaweed while I was imprisoned, I want to eat something warm, give me something."

Upon seeing this scene, Neon burst out laughing

"What!?"

"Nothing, just the sight of you two mobbing Callie for food is not something you see everyday."

"Okay okay, here you go, hey Agent 3, next time you plan on doing something like this, come to us for help k, and also pack a lunch at least."

"Victoria just showed up suddenly and told me that she could lead me to Kal and the others, I didn't have time to prepare."

"Speaking of Victoria, she lead us through the Undercity too, where is she anyways?"

"Probably back with the rest of the Octarian Army, she keeps talking about how risky it is for her to help us, and stuff like that, I doubt we will see her around anytime soon."

Kal sighed

"That's too bad."

"Oh? And can you elaborate on why?"

"Neon, I know what you're getting at, for the last time, we are not a couple, I haven't even seen her in months."

"That's normal for long distance relationships!"

It was basically a repeat of their conversation the last time they returned from Octo Valley.

Inker's side was hurting even more by now, so it was time to head back.

"Well it's nice to see everything back to normal, but we are still in Octo Valley, plus it is probably getting late by now, so lets head back to Inkopolis."

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza, The next day**

After a good night's rest, Kal once again experienced the joy of living in Inkopolis.

'_Man, i've missed this place'_

Safe buildings, fresh food, fresher people.

Kal couldn't help but spread his arms, as if he was trying to embrace the everyday scene of Inkopolis.

It was all familiar, but after being held in a prison for weeks, it felt so new and refreshing. The people commuting to their jobs or to Inkopolis Tower, the T.V screens playing a variety of shows and advertisements…

"What the heck are you doing?"

…...the sight of his friends Neon and Sky, instead of Octotroopers and Octolings.

"Nothing, it just feels so good to be back!"

For a moment, Kalus forgot about all the trouble he had in Octo Valley.

"So, didn't you say you wanted to go back to Octo Valley?"

"Neon, we just got back, sure I want to go and rescue Lila but we should probably wait for Inker or maybe Callie and Marie."

"No need, I did pretty well on my own without anyone backing me up."

"Umm maybe, but uhh."

"Huh? What?"

"Didn't you forget all about Sky last time you tried to do something in Octo Valley with Inker Callie, or Marie's help?"

'_Did her face just twitch?'_

"Ahh, well that was a mistake, it won't happen again, so don't worry about it!"

Sky chimed in "Seriously, we just got back yesterday and you already want to go back? you have Turf wars here so you won't be bored, plus this time, nobody else can help you; Callie and Marie are doing their show and Inker is stuck at home."

So in the meantime the group could do nothing about the one Inkling left in Octo Valley.

"Don't go running off to Octo Valley."

"Huh? What's with this commanding tone? Are you mad at me for nearly getting you splatted? You're mad at me aren't you."

"No, why would you think that, look don't go and try to do everything on your own okay."

"You should tell Inker that, not me."

After returning the other day, Inker had left to see a doctor, earlier this morning he had told his friends that he had a pretty serious wound that had to be disinfected and stitched up. Because of that, Inker has to avoid physical activities to not break the stitches and also take antibiotics as the wound was showing signs of infection.

"He was going on about things going back to normal yesterday, but I don't think things will be back to normal anytime soon."

"Because you're going to be fighting in Octo Valley more often now?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't deny it either."

Kal turned away from Neon and Sky, who were bickering as usual.

'_Things getting back to normal huh, everything looks normal enough to me.'_

After all this was Inkopolis, full of fun and fresh Inklings.

Kal looked at the various Inklings just hanging around.

Newbies with Splattershot jrs and basic clothing

Pros with varying gear sets

Chargers, Aloha Shirts, Rollers, .52 Gals, Camo Zip hoodies and 18K Aviators, Black Polo and 8-ball headband, Tentacles Helmet and Varsity Jacket.

'_Wait a second!'_

"What is she doing here!?" Kal exclaimed, drawing the attention of Neon and Sky

Kal took off in the direction of the one wearing a familiar looking outfit.

* * *

"You're looking quite fresh, wanna join us for a round of turf?" a random Inkling asked as she and her group passed by.

'_Huh? Wasn't Turf wars that gladiatorial battle between Inklings?'_

"Umm no thanks I'm actually looking for someone."

"Suit yourself."

The creature with the helmet and jacket kept walking for a while, eventually taking note of a shadow on the ground, one casted by a person who was probably following her.

'_Someone I know?'_

She turned a few corners at random, sure enough that person was still behind her.

"If you noticed me, you should at least say something instead of following me around."

Victoria turned around, as she expected, it was an Inkling she knew; Kalus.

"Sorry, I just wasn't sure if it was you."

"Oh well, good thing you found me, I have no sense of direction here in Inkopolis."

"Definitely, I wanted to thank you ever since I got back. I heard you led Inker and everyone else to rescue me and the other Inklings captured."

"No problem, just returning a favor."

Neon and Sky caught up.

"Hey what's going on?"

It took on a second for them to recognised Victoria as well.

"Ohhh I see what's going on."

"Neon no."

Victoria took note of the two, but continued speaking to Kal.

"By the way, where's Inker?"

"At his home, he got hurt pretty bad while escaping from some Elite Octolings, he had to get quite a lot of stitches yesterday and has to avoid exercise for a while."

"Oh, well that's unfourtunate."

Victoria showing up in Inkopolis was not something Kal would have expected, so he assumed that it had something to do with Lila.

"You're here because of the one Inkling we couldn't find right?I want to go save her, but I'm not going to Octo Valley again without Inker or Agent 1 and 2."

"That's fine, after all I came to tell you not to rescue her, you'd be walking into a trap."

"?!"

* * *

**Author Note**

Well the summer break is over, and it's time for me to start my first year of university, I heard the first year is always the hardest. I know that I haven't been sticking to my, "one chapter in under two weeks" goal, but at this point I think it can't be helped, I'll try my best to update this once or more times per month, after all there is still a lot of story left, the many characters who were only mentioned a few times have roles to play too.

* * *

Original Characters from Rescue (Chapter 6-10):

Inklings:

Kalus (often referred to as Kal): Red Inkling, captured by Octarians and recently freed by his friends. Kal is thoughtful and kind but a bit naive and inexperienced when it comes to Octo Valley, believing that everyone can be saved and everyone can be happy.

Inker (also known as Agent 3): Blue Inkling, injured in Octo Valley after attempting to rescue Kal and the other Inklings alone, luckily for him, Victoria helped Neon, Sky, Callie and Marie through Octo Valley and he was able to rescue the Inklings despite his injuries. Inker wants to somehow stop the fighting between the two races, but with the Octarian army's hostility towards Inklings, it is a difficult goal to achieve.

Neon: Green Inkling, enjoying combat more than anything, Neon went off to Octo Valley to find Inker and Kal, she fought well against large armies of Octarians and can adapt quickly to new enemies. Neon is an act first type of person, preferring to enjoy the moment, this causes her to make mistakes, especially when distracted by the "fun" of combat.

Sky: Cyan Inkling, despite knowing that he is not good at combat, Sky wished not to be left out and followed Neon to Octo Valley, where he found himself unable to take the life of another living creature, he has then decided not to return to fight in Octo Valley. Sky thinks first and acts later, making him the opposite of the wild child Neon. Because he does not act on instinct, he was shellshocked during his first real battle in Octo Valley.

Lila: light purple Inkling, thrown into the boiling pit under the captain of the guard's orders, she survived and was taken away from brainwashing and thus was not in the cells when Inker and Sky freed the captured Inklings. Acting Leader Octavia, plans to use her as bait, supposedly for luring out Agent 3. Lila is much younger than the other Inklings, having developed significantly faster than usual, this makes her extremely naive, but innocent.

Vert: (deceased) a detective for the Inkopolis PD, due to Inkopolis being almost crime free, Vert lacks experience in handling tougher cases (a trait likely shared with the rest of the Inkopolis PD). he suspected Inker and Laven, so he followed Inker to Octo Valley, where he and his team were splatted by Octosnipers. His ID(which shows that his last name is Brata) and gear was found by Neon when she explored the Rig, following Inker's plan, he has likely been credited for freeing the captured Inklings at the cost of his life in order to hide the New Squidbeak Splatoon's involvement.

Octarians:

Victoria: Maroon Octoling, one of many Octolings who from the ranks of the Octarian army. Feeling indebted to Kalus and Inker, she helped the Inklings navigate the large and unfamiliar Undercity, although she refused to openly go against the Octarian army and left the Inklings to do all the fighting. Victoria is pretty smart when it comes to battle, being able to tell when the Octarians would lose, this is likely because of her previous dedication to being a perfect Octarian soldier.

Violet: purple Octoling, an Octarian civilian working as an emergency responder in Octo Valley' Undercity. As a civilian, Violet knows only what the Octarian media has told her, and thus believes Inklings to be bad creatures. While having nothing against Inklings, Violet discourages Victoria's actions out of fear.

Octavia: Elite Octoling, the one replacing DJ Octavio during his absence, while she has managed to become Octo Valley' Acting Leader, she often underestimates the Inklings. Many of her subordinates have noted her errors, however she still seems to want to try luring Agent 3 into an ambush regardless of previous failures.

The Captain of the Guard: Elite Octoling, addressed only by her rank so far, the captain has a strong hatred for Inklings like most of the Octarians, however she is more open to using new ways to defeat the Inklings. She also seems to care about her subordinates, offering to hide Claire and Lynn's deal with Kal by granting them a paid leave.

Claire: Maroon Octoling, one of many Octolings who from the ranks of the Octarian army. Claire was the Captain of the Guard's camp adjutant and capable of reading ones expressions to tell lies from truth. In order to protect her family she made a deal with Kalus to have him keep Agent 3 away from a certain address. As an average Octarian, she only knows what the Octarian media has told her, and thus believes Agent 3 to be an utterly evil existence.

Lynn: Maroon Octoling one of many Octolings who from the ranks of the Octarian army. Along with Claire and Madison, Lynn made a deal with Kalus to keep Agent 3 away from her family. As the average Octarian, Lynn believes the rumors of Agent 3 being an utterly evil existence.

Madison (deceased): Maroon Octoling, one of many Octolings who from the ranks of the Octarian army. She made a deal along with Lynn and Claire in order to keep Agent 3 away from what is left of her family. Like Claire and Lynn, she also believes the Octarian rumors surrounding Inklings and Agent 3. She was splatted as cannon fodder, along with many other Octarians when Inker, Neon, Sky and the Squid Sisters attacked Melanin Prison.

Kevin: Octostriker, pilots a saucer ferrying Octarian troops around Octo Valley.


	11. Splatfest

**Part 3: Retaliation (chapters 11-15)**

_With Inker, Kal, Neon and Sky safely back in Inkopolis it seems like things have gone back to normal, however there is little time to rest. Inker, still healing from his wounds cannot go back to Octo Valley for some time, giving Acting Leader Octavia time to plan her next move._

* * *

**Enter the Octobot King, Octo Valley**

The familiar sight on an Octarian saucer came into view, as a new splatoon of Octarian soldiers came to replace the current one lying in wait.

This process was repeated every day for over a week, nearly every splatoon in Octo Valley has had a turn hiding inside the Octobot King, waiting for Agent 3 to arrive and rescue the last Inkling they had.

The only ones who had yet to play this role, was the Elite Octolings.

"Acting leader, may I ask why we are leaving a dangerous opponent like Agent 3 to the hands of regular troops?"

Amongst a room full of Elite Octolings, one had dared to ask a question.

'_How brave of them.' Octavia thought_

However, she had to keep the real plan to herself, until she was absolutely certain, nobody could know why she had set up an ambush like that without tipping of any Inklings at all.

"Because we will be needed later, we are Octo Valley's finest, we must be kept for when we are absolutely certain that Agent 3 is back."

Unfortunately, Octavia's response made everyone question her.

"Wait, so Agent 3 might not show up at all?"

"Come to think of it, how would Agent 3 know where to go?"

"Yeah, we didn't spread the word about this, I don't think anyone outside of the valley would know where that last Inkling is."

"Even if he did know, this is Agent 3 we are talking about, would he really come for one random Inkling?"

These Elite Octolings questioning Octavia's plan so openly irritated her.

"You guys, do you not believe that there is more to the plan than I'm letting on?"

"How would we know?"

"Exactly, trust in me for now, oh and prepare yourselves, there are few more splatoons who have yet to guard the Inkling a second time. If Agent 3 does not show up after a week, we will abort the mission."

"Abort?"

Octavia had never done such a thing before

The Elite Octolings thought it was weird for her to keep something secret even from them, however Octo Valley was in a bad enough condition as it is and Octavia had announced that she was considering aborting the current plan.

"Could the Acting Leader have learned something from the previous failure?"

At the mention of "failure" Octavia swole up a bit, however even she acknowledged the bit of truth in that statement.

'_Yes, I think I did learn something, something important actually.'_

"Whoever said that, you are possibly correct, whether you are or not however remains to be seen. In the meantime let the regular troops know of our plans, and be ready to move on a moments notice."

She was smiling, it was a smile that showed everyone that she was not worried at all.

* * *

**Inkopolis, Inker's house**

"Hiya! We are here again!"

"You guys don't need to come visit me everyday you know, I'll get better on my own."

As if on a new schedule, Kalus, Neon and Sky went to visit Inker, who had been staying home until he had healed.

"Are you feeling better now?" Kal had asked this everyday ever since the unexpected visit from Victoria.

"Kal I know you really want to rescue Lila, but I can't help you right now, if you can't wait any longer then just go with Neon."

"Yeah, I can fight just as well! Why do you need to wait for Inker? Let's go to Octo Valley again right now!"

"It won't be so easy since the Octarian army are expecting us, if we are going without Callie and Marie we will need Inker with us, also we should properly prepare this time and have someone acting as mission control who could probably help us navigate Octo Valley."

"The Octarian army waiting for us is no surprise, but how and what do you know about mission control?" Inker asked, since Kal had never been involved with the New Squidbeak Splatoon before and should not have known about something like that.

"Not much, I'm just saying what Victoria said."

* * *

Kal had found Victoria wandering in Inkopolis a few days ago.

When he recognized the helmet and jacket he previously owned, he immediately guessed that Victoria had come looking for them and he was right.

Because Victoria had brought some bad news; that the Octarian army was setting up an ambush for when they would try to rescue Lila.

Kal however wasn't about to leave Lila in the hands of the same people who boiled Bogs.

"You can't expect me to just give up because there are Octarians watching her, I doubt Inker would either."

Victoria was probably expecting such an answer, she smiled and said

"Well guess it can't be helped, if you want to rescue the last Inkling we captured then head to where the Octobot King was."

"Octobot King?"

"Inker should know where that is, theres a flying saucer with a boss kettle on it past the rig, if it gets moved then i'll go to Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack and show you another way to get there."

"Yeah, okay how about we just go now? Neon is pretty good and I have played Turf Wars for a while now so I think i'll be fine."

"You? You played that gladiatorial deathmatch known as turf wars?"

"Deathmatch? Where did you hear that?"

"Inker told me that Turf Wars was about splatting the enemy team and covering ground."

"Well yeah it is, but calling it a deathmatch is a bit excessive."

'_If Kal played Turf Wars and survived, maybe he is tougher than he looks?'_

"Regardless you shouldn't go without a professional like Inker oh and have someone act as mission control to help you out this time."

"Mission control?"

'_Right, Kalus is a civilian.'_

"Just have someone stay back and guide you through a radio or something."

"Got it, when Inker gets better we will go right away!"

"When you get there, toss a few splat bombs into the Octobot King, the Octarians waiting for you would likely be hiding in there… and Kal."

"Yes?"

"Be careful okay."

Having done what she came for Victoria turned and walked away

"Hey wait where are you going?"

"Octo Valley of course."

"Already? You just got here? Why don't you stay a bit, Inkopolis is a great place, this time I'll show you around and."

"I'm still a soldier okay, I can't just leave without permission, I have to be back with my splatoon by tomorrow so I need to get going now."

"Why do you need to be a part of the army? Can't you just find something else to do?"

"Octo Valley isn't Inkopolis okay, its hard to make a living there, jobs are hard to come by, plus I don't think I can do anything else so i'll stay with the army for now, anyways it's great to see you again, but I really need to get going, be careful when you get to Octo Valley.

And with that Victoria left in a hurry.

* * *

Back in the present Inker noticed something about Kal's recollection of events.

"Wait a second, you never told me that it was a trick to lure us back to Octo Valley."

"Yeah but I figured it would be nothing new, anyways if Victoria came here to warn us then it must be serious, that's why I don't want to go without you or Callie and Marie's help."

Inker sighed and pulled out his squid phone and started going through his messages.

After that he checked the Inkopolis news website.

"Yeah thought so…." he muttered before putting his phone down

Callie and Marie are busy preparing the next splatfest so you-"

Inker was interrupted by Neon who squealed with delight at the thought of another splatfest

The Splatfest was a popular event in Inkling culture, hosted by none other than Callie and Marie the splatfest started with Callie and Marie introducing the two sides, followed by 24 hours of turf wars between the two sides, equipment and stages where locked during this time and rewards were given out at the end of the event, also Callie and Marie preformed non stop during the event. It was something that nearly everyone in Inkopolis looked forward too.

Since it involved turf wars, Neon was obviously a big fan of it.

"SPLATFEST! What are the sides going to be!?"

Neon had practically shoved Kal aside and lept on Inker, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Okay calm down, uhh I think they said it was early birds and, no wait I'm supposed to keep it a secret, besides weren't you planning on helping Kal in Octo Valley a second ago?"

"Yeah, but this is a Splatfest! You guys should know how much it means to me, how could I possibly miss it!"

Just like that Kal lost the one person who was currently ready to go with him.

Noticing Kal's expression Inker laughed a bit

"Look Kal , there is nothing I can do to help at the moment, and the Splatfest is tomorrow. Sorry, but you are going to have to wait a bit longer, if i'm walking into a trap i'd rather do it when I don't have stitches."

At this point Kal had no choice but to wait.

Yes, the Octarians had set a trap for them.

Yes Inker was still recovering from his unplanned superjump.

Yes, there was another splatfest coming up."

Still Kal could not relax whenever he thought of Octo Valley.

'_Hopefully the splatfest can distract me for a while.'_

* * *

"We've received word from….on high."

"You don't mean?!"

"That's right, there's going to be a Splatfest soon!"

"Ohh! What's the theme? What's the theme?"

"Just a moment, the theme is descending as we speak!"

"Let's see it! Let's see it!"

"Annnd its here! We've got the Splatfest theme!"

"Let's hear it! Let's hear it!"

"Alright i'll announce the theme!"

As Callie said this, Marie and dozens of other Inklings all over Inkopolis gulped simultaneously as they waited for the introduction of the Splatfest theme.

"The theme for the upcoming Splatfest is…"

"Wait for it….."

"On come on tell us already!" a few impatient viewers yelled

The screen behind the squid sisters changed to a split screen showing "Early Bird" on one side and "Night Owl" on the other.

"Up and at em squidbirds!" Callie said cheerfully

"We're going to splat it up all night long!" Maire continued

"Do you like to get an early start to you day? TEAM EARLY BIRD!"

"Or do you live for the nightlife? TEAM NIGHT OWL!"

"As they say, the early bird gets the worm! Let me guess Marie.. You're on team lazy?... err I mean team night owl?"

"Good one Callie, but isn't it past your bedtime? You senior citizens really need your beauty sleep."

"..._Hurk… _You're just jealous that I make the most out of my day."

"Hey I accomplish things, why just yesterday I….. uhh…..I…."

"I rest my case."

"What about you at home? Do you have worms?"

"Head over to the Pledge box and pick a side!"

Many of Inkopolis' citizens didn't even bother with the rest of the show, they all made their way to the Pledge box.

"I chose team early bird!"

"I'll see you on the losing side then!"

"You'll be too busy sleeping in to walk to Inkopolis tower."

Completely oblivious to the Octarian army Inklings all around were discussing nothing but the splatfest.

"Who did you pick?"

"Marie's side of course?"

"Didn't you like getting up early?"

"Yeah but I like Marie more."

"Do you even care about the theme?"

"Not really I always pick Marie."

Those who were not in it for the rewards, were there to see the squid sisters performing live, dancing to City of Colour all day during the splatfest.

"So, which side are you picking?" Sky asked Neon

The two were lined up in front of the pledge box where hundreds of other Inklings were gathered.

Kal was with them too, but he seemed to distracted

"Night owl of course, early bird is not going to win."

"How would you know?"

"I have a hunch."

"Well i'm picking early bird, it's better to be up early and keep to schedules."

"I'll see you on the splattlefield then! Night owl will win because there is always the most activity at Inkopolis tower at night than in the morning, so they will probably have the majority vote, and the new rules won't make the least popular side win more points from matches like last year."

"... are you really Neon?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You normally don't think at all and just go with the flow."

"I am going with the flow! all that is just common sense."

"You're idea of common sense must be different from the rest of the world's. Kal what about you? You haven't said anything yet, early bird or night owl?"

"Hmm? Umm I stay up pretty late so night owl I guess,"

"You too? I understand Neon staying up late, but you should keep in mind that waking up early is very important once you get older."

"You are already thinking about that? According to Victoria Inklings get up late compared to the Octarians so I think it's natural for me, as an Inkling, to pick night owl.

At the mention of Victoria, Neon opened her mouth to tease Kal, who quickly covered Neon's month anticipating what she was about to say.

Still for Kal to mention Victoria while waiting to start a splatfest meant that he was still thinking about Octo Valley, Sky knew this.

"Kal please try to get your mind of Octo valley for now."

After finally reaching the pledge box and choosing sides the three went off to Inkopolis tower to start winning matches for their teams.

Kal had lost his Heavy Splatling when he was captured and didn't bother to ask where it could have went since he was already grateful to be rescued, so he went back to the Slosher he had previously used.

Sky being the lowest level present, used a regular Splat Roller which Kal had returned to him.

Neon had brought the custom E-Liter 3k again, but it was different this time.

"Wasn't your E-Liter an unscoped version?" Kal asked after noticing that Neon was now using a Scoped Custom E-liter 3k

"Yes"

"Why would you buy a second E-liter? I thought you liked having no scope so you could see more of the battlefield?"

"No reason, I just figured it would be better."

The trio left the crowded pledge box area and entered Inkopolis tower, which was equally crowded.

Inside Inkopolis tower was many many rooms, this was where the Inklings got paired up for turf wars, hundreds of rooms linked to a huge and complex network of tunnels connected to the spawn points of the many maps were here.

Of course the amount of maps they could play on were always limited to a certain few.

Since they were participating in the splatfest Kal, Neon and Sky could not enter the same room and chose "play with friends" so they had to each enter a separate room.

"See you guys after your matches!"

"Good luck you two!"

"See you soon."

The three waved at each other as they each entered an unoccupied room.

The many rooms of Inkopolis tower were the same, a dark room with minimal lighting, the advanced systems of the tower would scan the player (or players if several had entered the same room to play together) and retrieve their name level and rank, it would also determine what weapon they were using and attempt to match them with team members who did not use the same weapon type.

Kalus, Neon and Sky all stood in the familiar looking room, one that they had been to hundreds of times in their life.

A computerized voice spoke after a moment of silence in each room.

"User identified…"

"Kalus, level 20, rank B+ Weapon: Slosher"

"Neon, Level 42, rank S Weapon: Custom E-liter 3k scope"

"Sky, level 9, rank C Weapon: Splat Roller"

"Would you like to join a splatfest battle?"

"They may be in separate rooms, but all three of them replied at the same time."

"Yes."

"Yes!"

"Yes"

"Searching for suitable match"

"Waiting for teams to be ready.."

"Team Early Bird ready!"

"Team Night Owl ready!"

The floor underneath the Inklings folded away letting the Inklings fall into tube connecting to their matches as well as a device that would temporarily change their colours.

Kalus appeared in Hammerhead Bridge alongside three others, who were all purple.

Neon appeared in Mahi-Mahi Resort alongside her team also purple.

Sky appeared with his team in Piranha Pit, now orange.

'_Alright, if anything can get my mind off Octo Valley, this is it!'_ Kal thought to himself.

"..."

After their first game was over Sky and Neon met Kal back at the lobby.

Kal stood there with a blank expression.

"Did you lose? You lost didn't you? You look like you lost."

Hammerhead bridge was a map full of obstacles, grates and uneven ground, perfect for a close ranged weapon like Rollers, or the weapon Kal was using: a Slosher. Kal had spent the match somewhat distracted at first, but then he started to remember how fun Turf Wars was, after that the rest of the match was spent ambushing enemies by taking advantage of the map's uneven terrain and many grates.

It was the most fun Kalus had ever since returning to Inkopolis.

"I didn't lose."

"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost then?"

"I completely forgot, I forgot how amazing Turf wars was, I know I was only gone for two weeks but still, it all feels so new…. You guys were right, there is nothing we can do at the moment so let's just enjoy our regular lives until that time comes." Kal had to avoid mentioning Octo Valley in a public places like Inkopolis tower.

"By the way Neon, why did you ask if Kal lost?" Sky asked

"Well he looked odd, by the way did you lose?"

"Nope, let me guess, you lost?"

"Emmm."

"Is that why you immediately talked to Kal instead of boasting about winning? Cause you normally do that."

"Ohhh you're sharp."

"You didn't answer yet."

"...yes….." Neon voice was barely any louder than a mouse's squeak

"You know, if you are used to not having a scoped E-liter you could always go back and grab your unscoped E-Liter, it's not like we will end up together in a game with our difference in levels."

"No this one is fine! Besides it isn't my fault I got paired up with three Rollers! Why do so much people use such an overrated weapon?! I hate people who use Rollers! Watch i'll win my next game!"

Neon dashed off into another room to start searching for another splatfest battle.

Kalus laughed at the all too familiar scene and went to find his next game, as did Sky.

"Team Early bird ready!"

"Team Night Owl ready!"

The next battle for Kal was in the Piranha Pit.

Kal swam around the map, jumping between kid form and squid form to cover turf and move around quickly, he then took a full hit form a splat bomb and found himself returned to his spawn point.

He then took out a Roller attempting to cover turf before noticing someone who had just splatted one of the night owls squidbagging the area not realising his presence.

The Inkling was easily taken down, Kal moved on and was taken down by a blaster welding Inkling.

Once again Kal found himself coming out of his team's spawn point.

'_What great fun! I will definitely invite Victoria to try this out someday!'_

More minutes of pure action passed by, Kal got the drop on several Inklings and worked with his team to take down a few others, all while covering turf every now and then.

"Inkstrike!"

'_Where is it hitting?!'_

Kal saw the enemy Inkstrike land a good distance away from him

'_Phew, not hitting me that's for sure.'_

"Roller coming from the conveyor belt!"

"I got him!"

'Splat'

"Nevermind you got him!"

'Splat'

"Booy-"

'Splat'

"Make way! Inkzooka coming through!"

"Watch the left!"

"She's mine!"

"Kraken incoming!"

"Mine is ready too, get behind me guys!"

"9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 STOP BATTLING!"

"Annd the winner is….."

Judd twirled around before pulling out a purple flag indicating the Night Owl's victory

"Yeah!"

"Woohooooo!"

Kal and his team cheered, high fived each other, booyah'd together, and all sorts of stuff while the other team looked down or smacked the floor..

Sure to an outsider it might look like a bunch of sore winners and overdramatic losers, but this was normal for the Inklings who were naturally competitive and full of energy.

"I won again guys!"

"I lost again."

"I lost too, I see what you meant about Rollers Neon, I ended up with three other Rollers in Mahl-Mahl resort, we lost big time."

"I won't accept this! I refuse to believe that a scoped E-Liter is so much harder than the other one! I'm going for round three!"

"Team Night owl ready!"

"Team Early bird ready!"

"Alright! Hammerhead bridge again!"

Kalus, Neon and Sky spent the whole day at Inkopolis tower, playing battle after battle.

By 11:00 they were all tired from all the running, shooting and swimming.

What else to do now then to hang out in Inkopolis square and enjoy Callie and Marie's performance

"Here you go! Three black and white inkshakes."

"Thank you"x3

Kal, Neon and Sky, toured the city of color while sipping on their inkshakes.

"Today was great! I'm glad I got to take part in the Splatfest again!" Kal's was feeling much better now, but he was still worried about Lila.

At least now he could accept that there was nothing he could do.

Neon placed her hand on Kal's shoulder and gestured at the scene before them. "You see! No need to be so stuck up on Octo Valley! Don't forget to enjoy Inkopolis every now and then!"

"Weren't you also trying to go to Octo Valley before you heard about the Splatfest?"

"Sky why do you hate me?"

"Hey i'm just asking"

Finally they found a place where they could watch both Squid sisters preform.

"How do they manage to dance non stop the whole day?" Sky wondered

"The world may never know"

* * *

**The next morning**

Usually the Inklings would get up at later times, probably around 10 o'clock but today was different. Sure everyone was tired after yesterday's splatfest, but how could anyone possibly miss the results?

Just like with the announcement of the Splatfest, millions of Inklings tuned in to watch the Inkopolis news team announce the results.

"Before we reveal the stages, some special news!"

"Huh really?"

"The splatfest results are in!"

"Ohhhhhh!"

"First we'll reveal which team was the most popular!"

"Come on…"

"Bada-bada-bada-bada"

"Wait for it…."

"Boom!"x2

"Aww.. we lost"

"Yay!"

"Next up..

"Quickly quickly!"

"Time to see which team won the most battles!"

"Bring it on!"

"Bada-bada-bada-bada"

"Wait for it…."

"Boom!"x2

"Nooooo….."

"Heheheh!"

"No hard feelings either way yeah? And finally…."

"The final results?!"

"That's right! The winning team of this splatfest is.."

"Come on come on…"

"Boom!"

Behind the squid sisters showed a scoreboard showing the results of both popularity and wins percentages for both teams.

Night Owl had won both the popularity and wins sections, there was no doubt in who had won this Splatfest.

"HOOT HOOT! Team night owl wins! How do those worms taste Callie? Yummy?"

All over Inkopolis, Inklings of team night owl were going crazy with joy, screaming, pounding their chests and diving through closed windows, while team early bird flipped tables and rolled on the ground.

"You know Marie? I'm really sick of your attitude. You talk all this smack… but i've won WAY more Splatfests than you."

"Whatever I won all the important ones."

"You wanna talk smack? Put up or shut up!"

"FINE! Next Splatfest we play for keeps!"

That sudden statement brought all the Inklings watching back into control, none of them expected to see the Squid sisters lose their cool on T.V, they stopped cheering and rolling and all stared at their T.V screens.

"FINE! This just got personal!"

"FINE! Your prizes are waiting in the plaza!"

"...does this mean…"

Inklings all over Inkopolis wondered the same thing:

"...That the next Splatfest will be the last?"

Now that the Splatfest was over, it was time to get back to more important things.

"Ring!"

Inker rushed over to answer his door, already knowing who would be on the other side.

"Hiya!"

"You guys again, how did the Splatfest go?"

"Good news! I have gotten used to the E-Liter 3k scope now! Ready for Octo Valley!"

"As you can see" Kal said holding a super sea snail "It went pretty well, not for Sky though."

"I should have known that most of Inkopolis would choose the lazy option…."

"Don't worry Sky, there is always next time."

Kal recalled the little quarrel Callie and Marie had after announcing the Splatfest results.

"Speaking of next time, word is that the next splatfest will be the last one, after all Marie did say "next splatfest we play for keeps"."

"Huh when did she say that?"

"You didn't watch the news today?"

"No not really, I was rewatching my fight with DJ Octavio, I was thinking that if the Octarians could repower the Mighty Octostomp with fake zapfish they might have done the same with the Octobot king, after all why else would they keep their last hostage there? Anyways I'm feeling somewhat better now, i'll call Callie and Marie and we'll set off for Octo Valley immediately so you won't have to wait any longer."

"Uhhh that might not be the best idea."

"Why not."

"The two of them seemed pretty mad at each other when they did the news today."

"Oh they were probably following a script, I don't think they'd ever get mad at each other."

"Really, cause it seemed pretty real to me, why not call them and find out?"

There was no reason not to, after all Inker was about to ask them to come along anyways.

Inker pulled out his squid phone and dialed Callie's number

"Hello?"

"Hi Inker, what's inking?"

"Hi Callie, I'm about to go to Octo Valley again and find the last inkling they got there, I learn't my lesson from last time so i'd want all the help I can get."

"Sure! I'll be right there!"

"Tell Marie to come too, we will need a good Charger user watching our backs"

Hearing the words "Good Charger user" Neon grabbed Inker and started shaking him

"Hey! What about me! Don't forget I use a charger! Plus im an S rank now and you are still A+!"

Inker brushed off Neon and kept listening to Callie

"Oh it's fine really, Marie is uhh, busy. Plus I can hear your friend Neon in the background, she's probably better than Marie anyways… even though that's a pretty low bar."

"Huh? What did you say at the end there?"

"Oh nothing! Anyways we don't need Marie so don't bother calling her, i'll come and help you guys out, don't wanna see you torn up again!"

Callie was trying to push Marie out of this, Inker had to call Marie and hear what she thought.

"Hi Marie how it going?"

"Oh everything is just perfect, staying up late watching movies, being mobbed by fans in the street, dominating Callie in the splatfest causing her to make a scene….."

"Wait what?"

"You didn't watch it? Too bad, Callie lost both the popularity vote and games won segments, she lost it on camera."

'_Why do I always miss the news everytime something happens!?'_

"Anyways what's up? Why are you calling me all of a sudden? Are you feeling better after that trip to Octo Valley a week ago?"

"Yep, actually that's why i'm calling, remember how Kal said that we left one Inkling behind, well she is being left in the place where we fought DJ Octavio's Octobot King. Obviously it's a trap so I wanted to get all the help I can."

"No problem, i'll see you at gramps' shack in ten."

"Oh and get Callie too, if the Octarians could find another way to power the Octostomp they probably could power the Octobot king too, so i'll need help from both of you."

"No need, I recall gramps saying something about the old Octobot being super power hungry, no way they could get that thing to work again, it will probably just be a bunch of Octarians in an open area, so Callie would be useless."

"Did something happen between the two of you?"

"No, why do you ask? It's obvious that, Callie, who uses a Roller, would be helpless in the Octobot area"

"Well it's still best to get all the help we can get, after all last time we fought the Octobot King, I need both of you there to help."

"There is no guarantee that we will even fight the Octobot king again, we don't need Callie, plus she probably busy at the moment, see you in Octo Valley."

Inker could tell by their attitudes, the recent Splatfest had definitely driven a wedge between Callie and Marie.

"Well how did it go? Are they coming?" Kal asked

"They are coming, but you were right, they definitely aren't getting along after that Splatfest, oh well I invited them both separately so hopefully they'll get along during the mission."

"By the way, the Octobot King you keep mentioning, its DJ Octavio's machine isn't it, I remember you telling me about it, are you sure we can take on something like that?"

"Hey don't leave me out of this! What is the Octobot King anyways?!" Neon had never heard of the Octobot King before, neither did Sky, but the latter did not plan on fighting anyways, so he decided not to ask.

To answer Neon, Inker showed her and Sky a picture of the Octobot King after he had defeated it.

"This is the Octobot king, it might not look like much in this photo, but it is DJ Octavio's personal war machine, it carries a huge variety of weapons; from lasers to torpedos and fists, it can also deploy Octarian pods that bring reinforcements to the battle, why are your eyes shining?"

Neon tried her best to hide her excitement "Ahh not they are not, but i'm very interested, how did you beat it?"

Well I had the help of Callie and Marie, they showed up, playing Calamari Inkantation and Octavio started go berserk, actually now that I think about it, he was angry that his song was overwritten but he seemed to dance to the Squid Sisters' song during the battle, nevermind i'm getting off topic, anyways a lot of the Octobot King's attacks could be deflected by shooting enough ink at it, that was how I beat it. You look like you are lost in your own world, hello? Inkopolis to Neon, come in Neon!"

"Ahh yes, so we are probably fighting a big and powerful machine right! You will definitely need my help, so let's all go as a team!"

"Wait I never said anything about fighting!" Sky was worried that he'd be dragged into another dangerous situation."

"But you are coming along right?"

"Well yeah, but I don't want to go up against something like that." Sky said, pointing at the photo of the Octobot King.

"It's fine, you can help us out without fighting, normally the Cap'n stays back and guides me through the lairs, you can do something like that."

"Sure, I can do that."

"Well then it's all settled, we will set off for Octo Valley again."

"Oh remember, if the boss kettle isn't there Victoria said she'd come find us and we would need to go through the Undercity to get to the Octobot King."

"Don't worry I haven't forgotten, i've been stuck at home for over a week and i'm itching to get back in action, let's go rescue the that hostage and if the Octarians bring the Octobot King back online, i'll be ready for it!"


	12. Blackout

**Inkopolis plaza**

"You!"

"You…. "

When Callie and Marie saw each other they both stopped and stared at each other, both had angry expressions on their faces. They were wearing their own Hero suits so nobody recognised them as Callie's included a pair of shades and Marie's included a face mask.

The two the them turned to leave after a moment of silence.

"Hey wait!" a voice came out of nowhere.

Inker came running up to the manhole after seeing the two, he was followed by Kalus, Neon and Sky, who were telling him to slow down

"Where are you going? You guys are going to help me out right?"

"You look like you got all the help you need Agent 3."

"Hey wait, aren't you two inseparable? What could possibly have happened to lead to this?"

"Ask Marie!"

"Ask Callie!"

The two of them left is separate directions.

Inker tried to stop them, but didn't know which one to chase after, they were both good friends and had helped him out quite a few times before, how could he choose one over the other?

Inker and the others watched as Callie and Marie disappeared into the crowds of Inkopolis.

* * *

**Octo Valley, Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack**

Just beyond the manhole was Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, and of course the snow globe that contained DJ Octavio, you would think that the Octarians who snuck into Inkopolis would have freed him first, since he was along the way.

"Cap'n!"

"Hmm? What is it bucko? Ahh are ya lookin' for that Octarian lady who showed up a moment ago?"

"No, but wait Victoria was here? Where did she go?"

"Hmm, oh she said something about guiding you somewhere, but then got spooked when Octavio said he'd give her brain a good remixing once he got out, so she said she'd rather wait at the rig."

"Looks like we'll be going to the rig again, but anyways Cap'n what do you do as mission control anyways?"

"Well I sit in my cabin, hack into the huge network of cameras the Octarians put everywhere, and speak to you through your headgear."

"That's doesn't sound too hard, good" Inker brought Sky forward "This is my friend Sky, he wants to help without fighting, so I was thinking he could stay and help you out."

"I'm Sky, we've met before though, I would like you to show be how to act as my friends' mission control."

"Oh? Most kids nowadays would rather hog the spotlight, it's rare to find someone who is willing to do the behind the scenes work, sure i'll show you the ropes, come inside."

"Of course Cap'n"

"No need to call me that, you ain't part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, you can just call me Craig."

"Oh right, one more thing Cap'n" Inker stopped Cap'n Cuttlefish before he entered his shack. "Is it possible to synchronize our ink colours like in Inkopolis Tower? It would really help us if we could work together, and didn't have to worry about splatting each other."

"Ahh you must be looking for a colourizer, I happen to have one in here for when Agent 1 and 2 take on missions together."

Sure enough, inside Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack was a large machine with a casket large enough for an Inkling and various gauges and knobs beside it.

"This? It looks like its a century old!"

"It is!, it's the same one the original Squidbeak Splatoon used back in my day, it still runs perfectly, ya can't go wrong with tried and true technology."

Inker, Kal and Neon all felt uneasy stepping inside a century old machine.

"Wait a second! There is no need for all three of us to do this, we just need to change two of us." Kal pointed out.

The three stared at each other, one of them would be stepping out, while the other two would need to change colors.

"Rock paper scissors!"

"You're on!"

"Rock paper scissors shoot!"

All three of them chose scissors…..

"One more time, rock paper scissors shoot!"

"Yes!" Inker had won with rock

"Kal how about you go first!" Neon shoved Kal into the colourizer

"Hey wait, at least me time to prepare myself for…"

Too late, Neon shut him inside and the Cap'n started the machine

The old colourizer whirled to life and shook violently for a while before coming to a stop.

"Is it over?" Kal asked from within

"Yes! I told you there is no need to worry, this trusty ol colourizer never failed once in the past 100 years."

Kal stepped out, he didn't feel or look any different, in fact he was still red.

"Umm It didn't work, Kal is still red."

"Ahh that is because this is an older model, unlike the new ones in Inkopolis tower, this one wont change the color of your tentacles, ahhh this reminds me of times where you had to memorize the names and appearances of all your teammates in Turf Wars to tell them apart."

Ignoring the Cap'n who was busy remembering something, Neon pulled Kal out of the colourizer and hopped in.

"Come on, time's wasting, start the machine!"

Within no time, Neon was done with the colourizer as well.

They may still have had their regular colours, but the ink tanks they wore were full of blue ink now.

"Alright this will definitely make things easier."

"Hey Kal, let me shoot you!" Neon suddenly aimed at Kal

"Huh why? Wait what are you doing, hey!"

Neon fired, a stream of blue ink left her E-Liter 3k and hit Kal, however he still stood there unharmed.

"Okay, it definitely works!"

"What the hell!? Why would you do that? What if it didn't work, you would have splatted me!"

"Aww calm down Kal, I didn't fire a fully charged shot."

"But you scared the living daylights out of me!"

"Don't be such a baby."

"How about you stop being so hasty!"

While Kal and Neon argued, Cap'n Cuttlefish gave Inker two extra pairs of Hero Headsets.

"I don't have any extra suits, but i've got plenty of spare headsets lying around, get your friends there to wear them so we can help them out from back here, oh and by the way, have you seen Agents 1 and 2 recently? The two of them are refusing to come work together."

"I wouldn't worry about them, they are just a bit cross with each other, they'll be back to normal in a few days, in the meantime you should probably teach Sky how to be a proper mission control."

Sky was curiously inspecting the various computers and monitors the Cap'n had, unlike the regular electronics Sky had previously seen, these ones looked older. Aside from that the Cap'n must have been trying to translate the Octarian language as he had many Octarian articles stacked alongside notes detailing each symbol of the Octarians language, who knows, he may already have succeeded, regardless Sky eyed the stack of Octarian newspapers with interest.

After seeing Inker and the others off, Cap'n Cuttlefish went back inside his shack to show Sky what to do

"Okay, Agent 3 and the other two are heading out, here put on this headset so you can talk to them."

"Testing….."

"I hear you Sky"

"So do I"

"Same here!"

"Alright good, now look here, this first monitor give you a nice bird eye view of Octo Valley, those blips show where your friends are now. The three to the side show live footage from the hidden camera in the Hero suit, since only Agent 3 has one and Agent 1 and 2 have theirs turn off two of those screens are useless, the last one lets you to hop around the Octo Valley security cameras to check out the area ahead of your friends, technology sure is great ain't it?"

"Alright so what do I do now?"

"Follow Agent 3 and the others on camera or look ahead of them for any dangers up ahead."

"What exactly am I looking for?"

"Anything really, Octarians, canned specials, gushers.."

"Canned specials? Come to think about it Neon found an Inkzooka in a can last time we were at the Rig, is that a canned special?"

"Indeedy do. Actually they are looking for that familiar Octoling who keeps coming by right? Jump ahead to the rig and try to find her for em."

Following the Cap'n's advice Sky took control and started shifting through the Octarian lair's camera's searching for Victoria, or any other Octarian.

**Rumble at the Rig, Octo Valley**

"Guys can you hear me?"

"Coming in clear Sky."

"Alright, i'm looking around the Rig now, there doesn't seem to be anyone there."

"That could be good, or maybe bad, if nobody is there where is Victoria?"

"I don't know, i'll keep looking around, if I see anything i'll let you know."

"Alright."

Inker lead the way through the Rig with Neon and Kal by his side.

The place was still as deserted as before, there was really no reason for anyone to be here.

"If Victoria is here, she probably knows to keep out of sight, that's probably why you can't find her." Inker told Sky

"That would make sense, I recall meeting her in another lair after Callie had saved me from another Octoling, she insisted on standing in a certain place even though it was covered with Callie's ink and she was sinking into it."

Kal's voice interrupted Sky

"Guys, I've found something."

A discarded Inkzooka and a black briefcase lay at Kal's feet.

"Oh that, I found those two last time we were here, I wonder why the Octarians would leave something like an Inkzooka lying about."

"What about this briefcase?"

"There was some stuff inside, not interested."

"Wait that's an armor!"

Inker took the black briefcase and opened it, taking out a thick looking jacket, tough looking helmet and hard looking boots.

"Alright! Now i'm ready for anything!"

"What is that anyway? It kinda looks fresh I guess, but I still think it looks pretty uncomfortable."

"Its a set of armor, what else? It will make it harder to get splatted, since we are looking for Victoria we may as well try and find more of these."

"I don't need it, it looks like it would be hard to move in."

Neon, who's combat style involves alot of damage ups, swim speed ups and a long range weapon to splat people before they could get close, was not a fan of heavy clothes.

"It would still be safer if we could find you a pair of armor though."

"Who are you? My father? I don't need defense." Neon probably thought the armor was just extra clothing with defense up as sub abilities. "I'll just grab that instead" Neon pointed at another canned special in the distance before picking it up.

After a bit more running around, the group finally met Victoria, who was in fact avoiding cameras, she was waiting in a darkened forgotten corner of the large industrial plant known as the Rig.

"There you are, why do you have to hide in a place like that?" Inker asked

"Isn't it obvious? I can't be seen helping you remember? Anyways its best to stay out of sight, we should get going, I heard that Octavia will be recalling the troops guarding their last captive, you can't afford to miss that chance."

"Wow straight to business huh, no greetings or anythings?"

"I can't afford to waste time here okay, let's just hurry to the Undercity, i'll find a place near the outskirts where you three could hide and wait for the right moment. Come to think of it, where is Agent 1 & 2?"

"They couldn't make it here today."

"Hmmm, oh well that's fine, if everything goes right you should have no trouble at all, once that it done you will have no reason to return to Octo Valley right?"

"Yes, is that why you are helping us? So that we would leave Octo Valley alone?"

"Not at first."

"What do you mean "not at first"?"

"I was returning a favor the first time, this time though is to take away your reason to attack Octo Valley."

"Why would I attack Octo Valley?"

"Maybe you won't, but I see some others here that would." Victoria glared at Neon, who promptly looked away."

"Anyways we're wasting time, let's get moving, and keep out of sight okay."

Inker nodded then spoke to Kal through his headset.

'You hear that Mission control? We'll be avoiding camera so you won't be able to see us from here on out."

"Understood."

The three Inklings followed Victoria's steps, keeping out of sight for the whole trip to the Undercity.

Once they reached a more urban area they group started taking the rooftops as there was even less surveillance there.

"Oh! I see the three of you switched your ink colors, why didn't you do that last time?" Victoria said, noticing that all three of them swam together in a single line of ink.

"I had planned on going alone last time, this time though, we are prepared for anything. By the way, could the Octarian army use fake zapfish to repower the Octobot king?"

"I don't think so, I haven't heard about them reactivating the Octobot king at all, Octavia is apparently looking for another way into Inkopolis, which is why she is giving up on luring you back into Octo Valley."

'_They are still trying to invade Inkopolis huh, better watch out then.'_

* * *

As they moved along the buildings got shorter, and the urban landscape soon became a rural one. There was much less surveillance here, although Victoria still kept a sharp eye out for any sort of camera.

It was then that Octo Valley went dark once again.

Sky spoke urgently through the headset.

"I've just lost connection with Octo Valley's security system! Something must have happened!"

Inker, Neon and Kalus didn't need Sky to tell them, because they were also startled by the sudden loss of power, all of them looked around frantically for any Octarians jumping in.

Victoria however, was not worried in the slightest.

"No need to panic, its just a blackout, it happens all the time here, though we should probably hide quickly."

"Why is that? Will there be soldiers going around making sure everyone is safe?"

"No we kinda have a sort of tradition were everyone walks out into the streets to hold hands and chant away the darkness."

They knew what that meant: lots of Octarians would come outside at once, it may be dark but the chances of them being seen would increase dramatically. Not only that but it would be innocent Octarians, they couldn't splat them as they wanted.

Following Victoria's advice, the group of four hid as fast as they could.

As Victoria had said, dozens of families left their homes and joined together in the darkened street and started singing some sort of song. IT was an all too familiar scene to Victoria, but to Inker, Kalus and Neon, this was something none of them ever thought of.

"What are they saying?" Kal wondered

"It's the blackout song, all the Octarians know it."

"Why do you all need to bunch up like that" Inker wondered

"Whatever lurks in the dark is afraid of numbers, at least that what we believe"

"That looks like fun..." Neon said

"Really, I think it's more comforting then fun."

Inker knew that Mission Control could see and hear everything from the Hero suit's hidden camera so he decided to ask them for their opinions.

"Are you seeing this guys?"

On the other end, Sky replied

"Absolutely, we had blackouts before, but we never did anything like that, what are they saying anyways?"

Inker could hear Cap'n Cuttlefish in the background

"I don't think we'll ever know, I tried my best and I could decipher the language that them Octarians other than Octolings speak all the time."

"Really, maybe I could try sometime."

"Well i'll wish you luck on that."

It wasn't long before the group lost interest in the Octarian singing, Inker suggested that they move..

"Shouldn't we be moving while everything is dark?"

"We could, but what would you do if the lights come on while we are in plain sight?"

"How long does a Blackout usually last in Octo Valley?"

"Hard to tell, there have been ones that lasted several days and others that only lasted a couple minutes."

Kal noticed something interesting about what Victoria just said "Wait several days? Does that mean you and a bunch of other Octarians once stood outside singing for days on end?"

"No, usually we stop after an hour or so."

"So we could we sitting here whispering to each other for an hour?!"

"Quiet down Neon, yes it's definitely possible."

"I don't want to wait that long! As long as we stay away from the streets everything will be fine right? Let's get moving."

"Not now, even if we get to the Octobot King's lair there is no guarantee that the troops there have been pulled out."

"We can just fight them off then!"

"You do realize the whole point of them stationing troops there is to set up a trap for you guys right? How can you be so eager to walk right into it?"

"Oh she's always been like that, just leave her be." Kal said

"Hey, if I'm going to be Inkopolis' top Inkling I need to be able to fight off an ambush."

Taking Kal's advice, Victoria joined Inker and Kal in ignoring Neon.

"Still this may not be too good, if a blackout lasts longer than an hour all active splatoons of the Octarian army must reassemble after the blackout for a headcount."

"Okay? What's so bad about that?"

"I'm supposed to be at the Nautilus base okay, getting there from here will take me around half an hour, if this blackout is going to last longer than an hour I need to go back."

Time slowly passed by, and there seemed to be no end to the blackout.

"How long has it been?"

"Seventeen minutes"

"Wow, you can tell?"

"Octarians have a pretty good sense of time, after all we are living underground and cannot see the sun, how else could we know what time it is."

After sitting around for another three minutes Victoria got up.

"I need to start heading for Nautilus base, i'll be back soon.

"Wait but what about us then?" Kal asked

"I'll come back for you as soon as I can, you just need to find someplace to stay hidden."

Hiding in the street was risky, especially for Inklings who did not know the Undercity.

"We could all hide in your apartment, how far is that from here?" Inker suggested

"It's pretty far and also I don't want to leave you with Violet."

"Who's Violet?" either Neon or Kal asked, but they were drowned out by Inker's question.

"Why not?"

"She's a civilian, they are always fed messages full of propaganda to keep them afraid or against Inklings, last time she was worried that the Octarian army would arrest her as an accomplice of mine so i'm worried that she'd report you three as soon as she gets the chance."

"Umm, who is Violet anyway?" Kal asked again

"My roommate."

"Roommate?"

"Ahh right you probably never have roommates in Inkopolis anymore, remember how I told you housing is expensive in Octo Valley due to the lack of power and resources? I can't afford to live on my own, so I share the rent with a friend, who is Violet."

Indeed the concept of "roommates" were a mystery to the Inklings of the utopia that was Inkopolis, a place where you could earn enough to live on your own from Turf Wars alone. Once again Kal was reminded of the vast difference in between Octo Valley and Inkopolis.

"Isn't there anywhere else we could go? If not we will just need to move on the Octobot king lair right now."

Doing such a thing would be risky, leaving three Inklings in the streets would also be risky.

"Sigh, guess it can't be helped, follow me and stay quiet, I think there is another place."

Although there were hundreds of Octarians singing in the streets, Inker, Kal and Neon still make sure to stay quiet.

Since the lights could come on at any moment, the group avoided leaving any ink behind as it would be easily visible should the power be restored.

Every once in a while Victoria would look back to check if everyone was still with her, as well as make sure there was nobody following them.

It wasn't long before they reached a house near the outskirts of town.

As expected of an Octarian home it looked old and run down, it was three stories tall but very thin, the windows were barred and the walls had many jagged white lines running down it, indicating that it had previously cracked and been patched together. The plants in the front garden were probably plastic since it was unlikely anything would grow in an underground city were no natural light ever reached.

It was dark, but Inker could make out the Octarian army supporting graffiti on one of the walls, it was that same house from before.

Victoria reached into the possibly fake garden and pulled out a rock, which was lighter than it looked.

With a twist the rock split into two and Victoria retrieved a key from it and went for the door.

The house was dark, as its occupants were outside with the rest of the Octarian population chanting away, Victoria went to the rear of the house and slid open the glass door leading to the back, where her Inkling companions were waiting.

Following Victoria inside, Inker, Kalus and Neon found themselves standing in what appeared to be a living room, Victoria then led them upstairs into a dining room next to a kitchen.

Once they were all inside, Victoria shut the door and pulled the curtains on every window in the room, she then retrieved a lighter from a drawer and lit a few candles that had been left on a victorian candle holder to ease the mood.

"Alright you three stay here for now, i'll be right back and leave your weapons on the ground okay."

Victoria left the house, leaving Inker and the others to wonder why she told them to leave their stuff on the ground.

It was entirely possible that Victoria would turn them over to her splatoon and the Octarian army, but past events proved that it was very very unlikely, still with nothing else to do , all Inker had the other had was their imagination so they were at least a tiny bit worried that Victoria might be turning on them.

Outside Victoria sought out two Octarians from the crowd and whispered to them to follow her back.

Upstairs in the kitchen, Inker, Kal and Neon could hear the door open and close as well as Victoria talking to someone downstairs.

"Before we go up I want you to know that what i'm doing is to repay a favor and not in any way intended to hurt anyone in Octo Valley."

"What the heck have you been doing since to left?"

"Come with me and find out."

Victoria entered the room where Inker and the others were waiting, behind here were two older Octolings one male and one female.

The male looked familiar as Inker and Neon had briefly encountered him last time, Sky watching through the Hero's suit's camera also recognised the Octoling.

"Mother, Father, meet Agent 3 of Inkopolis' New Squidbeak Splatoon."

The sight of Inklings in their home was already shocking enough, with the added knowledge that one of them was Agent 3 was even more shocking.

Inker could see the fearful expression on the father's face, the mother however didn't seem worried at all, she narrowed her eyes as if suspicious of something.

"When I was lost in Inkopolis, Agent 3 and his friend Kal; the red Inkling behind him, kept me hidden from the rest of Inkopolis and got me back safely, don't believe what Octo news tells you, Agent 3 is not the emotionless killer he is on TV." Victoria continued.

"Why would I believe something so ridiculous? More importantly how could you get lost and end up in Inkopolis? Even before I was an Elite I never got separated from my unit no matter how many enemies I faced."

"Seriously! That's is all you have to say!? Hello! Your daughter got home safe! You keep acting like this ever since I was an Octopus and you wonder why I hang up everytime you call! Could you even care a little about me for once?!"

"Oh don't worry dear, mommy's relieved you made it back, disappointed, but relieved."

"Oh yeah? I don't recall you winning any wars in your time."

"I'm a soldier not an army, I won my battles, that's what mattered."

Inker, Kal and Neon could see Victoria shaking with anger.

"Whatever, i'll leave you guys to get along while I run to Nautilus, i'll be back soon."

Victoria angrily left the house.

"So." Victoria's mother said cheerfully "You're Agent 3? I'm Maria Holter, nice to meet you." and stuck her hand out, all that attitude from before was gone.

Inker was confused by her sudden change in tone, wasn't she acting all high and mighty a second ago? Still he shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Inker"

"That's not a nickname is it?"

"Nope, Inker Cetamari has always been my name…." Inker looked down upon noticing that Maria's hand felt odd.

Under the candlelit condition he hadn't noticed it before, but now that he was standing closer he could see that Victoria's mother Maria was missing two fingers on her right hand.

"Ahh!" Inker jumped

Maria burst out laughing, she brought her right hand up to let everyone see where her pinky and ring finger once was "Hahaha! Surprised? I lost these two fellas in a mission against the zombies of the deep."

At the mention of a mission, Inker guessed that Maria must have once been an Octoling soldier like Victoria is now, it was strange that she would lose fingers though since the Inklings and Octarians both splat each other, also what were there zombies of the deep?

Upon a closer look, Maria also had a large scar that ran down the left side of her face, as if she'd been cut before.

Inker concluded that she was indeed a combat veteran, but she looked much younger than Cap'n Cuttlefish, who was well over 100 years old.

That was when Neon hopped in front of him.

"Zombies! You fought zombies! What was it like?!"

'_Ahh right, Neon is always interested in fighting.'_

Maria wasn't surprised at this Inkling's sudden enthusiasm, after all there had been a time where fighting and being the perfect soldier was all she could think about too.

"Well we call them zombies because they look just like us and come from deeper underground."

"Tell me more! How did you lose your fingers to one of those? Did they try to eat you or something?"

Inker walked past the glittery eyed Neon who was really wanting to hear Maria's war stories.

'_Come to think of it, Neon had me tell her all my stories once she learned that I was Agent 3.'_

He went to Victoria's father who had yet to introduce himself.

"Sorry about my friend, she's kinda crazy when it comes to anything related to violence."

"Hey! I heard that Inker! I'm not crazy, im dedicated to my hobbies, you gotta find something you like and stick with it your whole life or you'll end up dazed and confused about what the heck is going on around you!"

Once again Maria laughed "ohhh to be young again…'

"Is there something wrong with what I said?"

"No you just remind me of a younger me, by the way you never introduced yourself."

"Oh right! I'm Neon."

"Also not a nickname?"

"Of course not? Why do you ask?"

"Ohh nothing, I guess we have different ways of naming ourselves."

"Culture shock, interesting isn't it? By the way, I'm Kalus Kogia, or Kal if you prefer."

"Just out of curiosity, how do you choose your names?" Maria asked, after hearing the Inklings' names.

"Hmm? I don't know, my folks named me Kalus right after I was born so I don't know why i'm named that way."

"Ohhh so Inklings are named at birth."

"You aren't?"

"Of course not, many Octarians die from accidents or diseases before we can even think for ourselves, so we wait until we can think to come up with our own names."

"Wow that is….."

"Depressing?"

"Yeah"

"Well like you said; culture shock, Octo Valley ain't sunshine and rainbows, in fact i'm sure most of us don't even know those exist anymore."

"Enough about shocking culture stuff, tell about that mission with zombies!" Neon didn't seem to mind at all that she was talking with an Octoling would could possibly have been shoot them if they had met somewhere else.

While Neon pestered Maria to share her war stories, Inker once again apologized to the father, this time for the scare Neon gave him when she almost took a shot at him when they were passing by to get the Melanin.

"Well I guess it's expected of any Inkling's first time in Octo Valley, by the way i'm Robert."

"Nice to meet you Robert."

"Can I ask why you are here? What are you planning to do with my daughter?"

"Oh i'm just here for the Inklings that your army captured, I won't be doing anything unnecessary."

"What does Victoria have to do with that? You know its a big risk to make her help you."

"I didn't put her up to anything, she was the one who came to find Kal in Inkopolis to tell him where to go and to find her if we couldn't get to the Octobot King's lair."

"So she chose to do it on her own, alright then."

"You're okay with your daughter helping us?"

"My wife and I raised Victoria to be independent and to trust herself more than anyone else, if she made the chose to help then I got no problem with it."

"Speaking of which Victoria doesn't seem to like you guys very much, also why was your wife acting so different when Victoria was here?"

"That is just a little plan to keep Victoria reaching for new heights, when we found out she wanted to follow her mother's footsteps and become an Elite Octoling, we decided that Maria should always make herself better than Victoria no matter what, that way every time Victoria goes into battle she think of how to surpass her mother."

"Yeah but isn't that a bad idea in a way? Victoria even said something about never answering your calls."

"Whatever way she sees us now is fine, she'll become independent and will live long after we are gone."

"And she'll also hate you for her whole life." Kal suddenly cut in, he had followed Neon to hear Maria's war stories but came back shortly.

"Not interested in war stories?"

"I'm not like Neon, but anyways from what you said I don't think what you are doing is a bad idea but if this goes on you will probably never seen Victoria again, are you really okay with that?"

"Yes." the answer was instant but there was a hint of sadness in Robert's voice, if Kal had said the same thing to Maria he'd probably get the same answer…

"So please do us a favor, don't tell Victoria what we are doing, its been hard on all of us to keep this act up for so long, it would be a waste if we told her now." Robert continued.

Inker nodded "Alright"

But Kal wasn't about to agree just yet

"I understand where you are going with the whole independence and unreachable goal thing, but can Victoria really keep going on like this? She can't be honest to anyone in the army, she can't trust her roommate, so family is all that's left for her, I thought family was everything in Octo Valley."

"Who told you that? And also why are you so concerned with my daughter?"

"She's helped me too you know, just about a week ago I was also held prisoner in Octo Valley, I saw other Inklings get dragged off to something called the Boiling pit and never return, if not for her the same could have happened to me."

"Is that really all? Just returning a favor?"

"Yes"

Robert doubted Kal's answer but he didn't pursue it any further

"Well it doesn't matter, at this point no matter what we try Victoria will hate us for raising her the way we did." this time it was obvious that Robert was remorseful of how his family ended up.

'_I knew it'_ Kal thought

"I don't think so."

"You saw the way she yelled at us, there is no way we could ever fix this family again."

"Of course there is, do you know that Victoria did something similar back in Inkopolis? She took advantage of the fact that we were sheltering her to steal the Great Zapfish, luckily we caught her in time. Back then I had no idea what Octo Valley was like, I had lived a carefree life in Inkopolis up to then so I assumed Octo Valley was the same, so when Victoria took advantage of me and Inker's kindness to try and ruin our city's power source I was was mad, I hated her behavior, I hated her personality, I hated everything about her, she was mad too and just like earlier she yelled at us and in doing so revealed what she wanted to do with the Great Zapfish. After that I realized I wasn't on the right side, the next time I saw her we sat down and I learned everything about Octo Valley, the degrading buildings, the everyday accidents, the general fear of living on in such a place…. After that we got along fine, in fact I couldn't bring myself to hate her anymore."

"What does that have to do with us now?"

"Don't you get it? Victoria hides her intentions and only speaks her mind when she can't take it anymore. Sure she could have been hiding it from us because we were supposed to be enemies but I think the same thing could be happening now, after all didn't she just say she wanted you to care about her for once?"

"But we do, she just doesn't know it, that was the whole point, Octo Valley is dangerous, you can't get attached to anyone otherwise you won't be able to move on once disaster finally strikes. Your family may the the only ones who care about your whole existence, but if you lose them, then what else is left? You said that Victoria told you everything about Octo Valley, so you should understand this."

"I do, in fact that is why I can never bring myself to hate any Octarian anymore, in fact I've decided that when I get back and things calm down, I'm ditching my carefree life and someday becoming an ambassador for Inkopolis.

"Whoa" Inker never heard anything about that before, was Kal hiding it the whole time?

Behind Kal, Inker saw Neon peeking around the corner, since nobody was talking she came running around the corner into the room.

"Inker! Inker, come! Listen to this! There is a place even further underground and there are Octarian zombies that come out of a subway like area! Kal you come too."

Neon pulled Inker to the living room and sat him down next to Maria with Kal following out of curiosity.

"Mrs Holter tell Inker what you just told me!"

"Umm okay, there's a place further underground then Octo Valley, a subway that runs undernea-"

"Not just that! Tell us the whole story again!"

"There's no need, sorry about my friend."

"Oh no it's fine, if she wants to hear the story again i'll retell it, we got more than enough time anyways."

In a dark room with nothing but candles providing light, Maria told the story which could have possibly been a ghost story if herself wasn't in it.

"A few years ago there were reports of Octarian soldiers going crazy, attacking and kidnapping the population before disappearing somewhere, at the time I was part of a splatoon made up of six Elite Octolings called Elite Splatoon Beta, we were dispatched to investigate.

What we encountered were Octarians which looked just like any other Octarian, with the same equipment and combat styles, the difference was their colours, they had green skin and blue tentacles and unlike other Octarian soldiers who communicated with each other, these guys moaned robotic phrases and fought without regard for their own lives.

Since we were the first to fight off these weird creatures, Octavio tasked my team with capturing one of these insane soldiers for experimentation, hopefully we could figure out what made them go insane.

By that time several teams had encountered the zombie-like Octarians, we knew where they were coming from; an old subway station that we stopped using after the loss of the Great Turf War, no other Splatoon had dared to go inside before us as rumors had spread that the Octarians we were fighting are the ones who had been led to their deaths during the Great Turf War and that whoever dared to enter would become one of them.

Me and my team entered with caution, we were all Elite Octolings with years of experience behind us, we encountered Octotroopers, Octocopters and Octolings. The conflict that followed saw the loss of two of my teammates, Cassidy and Megan, both who I had known for years by then we were fighting for our lives, there was almost no end to the approaching waves of crazy Octarians, with no other choice we outran the slower Octarians retreated to the surface with an Octoling following us close behind, the rest of the army was waiting for us at the surface to splat anyone following us, but upon realising we had not captured anyone yet they helped us capture the crazy Octoling.

We swarmed the Octoling from every direction taking care not to splat it but to cover the ground around it, it still put up one hell of a fight, when we had covered the whole area with magenta ink and the Octoling was out of places to recover it discarded its weapon, me and my three remaining squadmates made our move to capture it, but to our surprise it had no intention of giving up, it lunged on another one of my squadmates; Laura, at that time Laura had already raised a death flag as she had announced to us that she was engaged to be married and wanted to start a family after this mission. The Octoling had no weapon but it grabbed Laura's neck and wouldn't let go, we still had to capture it alive so we couldn't shoot at it, the remaining three of us pry it off her, after that we held it down with the help of other Octolings nearby, we knew it would transform to slip away so we made sure to hold every part of it down to prevent it, but as I was holding down it's head it kept struggling until my right hand went into its mouth. The thing bit my fingers with all its might, by the time someone came to sedate it it took my fingers off and spat them out at me, still we completed the mission, at the cost of many lives, including two members of my splatoon."

As Maria finished recalling that certain mission, Neon held Inker's hand with shining eyes.

"We should go to that Metro place after we are done here!"

"No way! Why would you want to go somewhere so dangerous? By the way Mrs Holter"

"You can just call me Maria"

"By the way Maria, why did you call those crazy Octarians Zombies of the deep?"

"Well after we had finished the mission the metro was heavily barricaded to prevent anyone from ever going inside from the Undercity, our scientists found out that the Octoling we captured could not be identified as any of our soldiers, they say it had the DNA of not one, but several missing Octolings of the Great Turf War, something happened in the metro where it had been killed and then forcefully reanimated while showing no signs of life, after that news made its way to the public they started calling them the "zombies of the deep" I someone is even making a movie about them in Octo Valley and asked me for the details of that mission."

"You see! They are poor tortured Octarians being forced to wander the deep and fight everyone they see, if we go there and splat all of them we'd be doing them a favor!"

"Why are you so insistent on running into danger?"

"You can't get better without taking risks."

"You got the meaning of that all mixed up! Still I should ask Cuttlefish about this and maybe investigate it someday."

"When!"

"No time soon that's for sure."

"Awwwwwww"

"We are probably going to fight the Octobot King in a few hours so stop looking for more trouble."

"Hey if i'm going to be the best at turf wars I gotta take all the chances I get to practice."

"Turf Wars? You are planning to join the Inkling army?" Maria asked

Inker didn't want to say that Inkopolis didn't have an army anymore so instead "No Turf Wars is just a combat simulation, which happens to be popular in Inkopolis."

"Hey don't forget, I'm replacing you in the New Squidbeak Splatoon if anything happens!"

"Don't talk like i'm going to get splatted!"

"Hey currently, i'm at rank S so i'm ranked higher than you, I'll be much better suited to the New Squidbeak Splatoon than you."

"S rank?" Maria had no idea what this hyperactive squid was going on about

"Players of Turf Wars are ranked according to their skill." Kal explained

"Ahh I see. Neon take it from someone who has served in the Octarian army for thirty years, real fighting is not like that in simulations and games, you won't become a power squid in shining armor with the sun rising behind you,"

Maria used the hand that was missing fingers to point at the large scar on her face

"See this it what it really looks like once you've fought a lifetime of battles, it's not glorious, it's not heroic, it's not even honorable, it's merely doing what you think is right, even if someday you find out you were in the wrong."

"Ohh I didn't notice that big scar before! How did that happen?"

"You didn't hear a word I said did you?"

"No i get it, everything is not what you expect right? Sure, but Turf Wars is a big part of our lives now, anyways how did you get that scar? Inklings?"

'Sigh'

"'ll tell you, since we got time, but for now I want you to remember this: Turf Wars or whatever it is you do may seem important to you now, that is life's greatest challenge, choosing between two things when both mean everything to you."

'_That's some good advice.' _Kal noted

"Well anyways this scar was from the incursion war with the Salmonids."

"Salmonids?" Inker was familiar with the race of fish known as Salmonids "I thought you guys had a trade agreement with them."

The Salmonids were a race of fish that unlike Inklings, lived underwater and produced the power eggs scattered over Octo Valley, they known to trade power eggs for Octarian machinery.

"We do, the agreement was made after their surrender, how else do you think we got it?"

It would seem that Inklings weren't the only ones who had war with the Octarians.

For the rest of the blackout Inker, Kal and Neon stayed with Victoria's parents, the two groups got along well despite the history between their races, it came to show that without a bunch of misunderstanding the two races could definitely get together again someday.

* * *

The power came back an hour later, accompanied by the cheers of Octarians everywhere in their homes, another hour passed before Victoria returned.

'_I hope everything is alright, mother and father really aren't the most amicable Octarians there are.'_

However when she entered her childhood home she was greeted with a much different atmosphere.

Inker, Kal, Neon and her parents Robert and Maria were happily chatting over dinner.

"Wha?" She was shocked, all her life they never once had such a friendly atmosphere in this household, her parents were always cold towards her, leaving her to learn everything on her own and never once saying anything positive to her. Why were they so different to these unexpected guests?

Aside from that were they actually smiling?

Maria was the first to notice Victoria's return amongst the chatting.

"Oh you're back, well then I guess it's time to say goodbye." Maria sounded displeased

"Yeah do that, the Octarian army is abandoning their last captive so we should go now, plus I wouldn't want to waste your oh so precious life of early retirement." Victoria shot back.

Inker, Kal and Neon quickly said good bye and went after Victoria, who had left right after speaking, unable to stand the presence of her mean and cold parents any longer.

The whole thing must have put her in a bad mood because she didn't say a word the rest of the trip, using only hand gestures to stop the group when she saw something coming.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

Sky had just returned with a few sub sandwiches.

"Alright i'm back, what's happening now? Are they moving again?"

"Yessire they be near the Octobot King lair in no time, here switch spots, it'll be good practice for you to watch for any incoming threats and warn Agent 3."

Sky who was standing next to a bunch of monitors sat in Cap'n Cuttlefish's spot, watching the live footage from Inker's Hero Suit.

_Tap tap tap_

Someone was knocking at the door

"Gramps are you there? Or are you sleeping in?"

"I got it bucko, you keep watching."

Outside the shack was Callie and Marie

"Oh Agent 1&2 good to see you here so soon."

"Where's Agent 3?"

"He's already long gone, he's almost at the Octobot King by now."

"Almost? Why did he take so long to get there?"

"The saucer with that Kettle ain't here no more, he had to walk all the way through Octo Valley to get there this time."

"Are you watching them now?"

"Yes everything is going fine."

"That means something isn't right."

Callie and Marie went inside and went over to Sky and the mission control room.

"Oh you guys are here!"

"Yes, quickly tell us where is Inker and the others now?"

"They are already past the Undercity and entering the Octobot King's lair, all we can do now is watch."

* * *

**Enter the Octobot King, Octo Valley**

"I never thought I'd be back here again….." Inker mumbled

Victoria had already left the group for obvious reasons, now three of them continued forward towards the unpowered Octobot King.

The lair was darkened, since nobody was using it, there was still some lights, though they were all dim.

On top of it was a glass capsule with Lila sleeping inside, it reminded Inker of how Octavio kept the Great Zapfish in plain sight to lure him closer, good thing he was prepared for that.

"That's Octavio's Giant War Robot? I was expecting something bigger.."

"Why do you sound disappointed Neon?"

"Only a bit, if it's just one giant enemy I can take it on easily!"

"Stop saying unnecessary things, you'll jinx it."

Inker had planned to fight the Octobot King again, but seeing how it was powerless he breathed a sigh of relief.

Victoria had mentioned that she and her splatoon had hidden inside the Octobot King when they were guarding Lila, so Inker had planned ahead for that too.

"Alright Neon get us closer."

"Right away!"

Neon fired her E-Liter 3k making a long trail of blue ink towards the Octobot King, breaking the silence that dominated the lair.

Inker and Kal used the trail of ink to quickly swim up to the Octobot King and tossed bombs inside, any opening they could find on the Octobot King, if anyone was inside it they would be splatted.

The Splat and Suction bombs burst but nothing was hit, the Octobot King was completely empty.

Lila however had been woken up by all the ruckus from the weapons.

Inker and Kal went to get her out of her capsule, with Neon swimming towards them.

'_Oh kraken, what did they do to you?'_ Kal thought after seeing the heavily scarred Lila, a result of being in the Boiling Pit.

"Don't worry you'll be alright." Inker said

"Kalus!" Lila said upon recognising Kal

"Yep it's me and I brought Agent 3."

Upon hearing that Inker was Agent 3, Lila looked at him with eyes of admiration, he was the hero Kal had mentioned in his stories.

"This is locked, how are we supposed to get it open without a key nearby?"

"Ohh I know, in movies Inklings pick locks with pins, I have one right here!" Neon said pulling out a pin needle out of her pocket."

"Why do you have a pin in the first place?"

'I carry lots of small things that might come in handy! Look! I even got a flashlight, a whistle a small pair of scissors!"

Somehow Neon was once again more useful than expected, at least for a moment, because right after receiving the needle Inker saw the type of lock the Octarians put on the cage.

"It's a combination lock….."

"Dang, they are getting smarter."

"Good thing they didn't have those in Melanin….."

"How are we supposed to get this open anyways?"

"We could probably smash it open if we had something strong enough."

Suddenly the whole area was illuminated.

Startled by the sudden light, Inker, Kal and Neon grabbed their weapons and looked around them.

"Welcome Agent 3!" a voice came from somewhere

Suddenly Elite Octolings started climb onto the platform.

'_They were under the platform the whole time? How did they even get there?'_

At the same time, all of the Elite Octolings superjumped towards the Octobot King, landing just within Hero Shot and Octoshot range.

"I never let news of this Inkling leave Nautilus base. Not even the Octarians in the Undercity know about this." one of the Elite Octolings said as others made way for her.

It was Acting Leader Octavia

"And only the Octarians at Nautilus base knew that we were pulling back today. So tell me, which one of my soldiers brought you here?"

The whole point of placing Lila here wasn't to ambush Inker, it was to check if someone was leaking information...


	13. Hollow Victory

**Enter the Octobot King, Octo Valley**

"I never let news of this Inkling leave Nautilus base, not even the Octarians in the Undercity know about this and only the Octarians at Nautilus base knew that we would be pulling back right now. So tell me, which one of my soldiers brought you here?"

They had been played.

Why would the Octarians use Lila as bait if they weren't even going to let Inker know what they were doing?

Why would they remove the boss kettle and force them to go through the Undercity to reach Octavio's lair?

Why did they put every splatoon they had to take shifts guarding Lila if Agent 3 never knew where she was in the first place?

Because Lila wasn't bait for Agent 3, it was bait for whoever was leaking information from Nautilus.

Right now Neon could easily take out Octavia with a single shot, but they were surrounded with nowhere to run, if any of them did any kind of hostile act it would end in disaster.

Inker and Kal were worried that Neon would go off and start shooting so they eyed her Charger for movement, surprisingly she didn't budge, even she must have noticed the severity of the situation and restrained herself.

Though Inker did notice Neon's eyes darting around as if trying to find a way out…..

Leave it to a competitive Turf War player like Neon so always be looking to gain the upper hand.

'_What can we do now? We obviously can't tell her about Victoria, but I can't see a way out of this either. I got three lives with the Hero Suit on so maybe I could sneak away by losing one, but Kalus and Neon don't have Hero Suits, also we would end up leaving Lila behind and this whole mission would have been for nothing.'_

"We don't need anyone to tell us, after all we've broken into Octo Valley's security system a long time ago, we've been using it ever since Octavio stole the Great Zapfish."

"Nice try, but there aren't any cameras here since Octavio like to keep secrets. Therefore you had no way of knowing that the Octarians on duty would hide inside the Octobot King, so how could you have known to check inside the Octobot King for troops?"

'_They saw that too?'_

Sky's voice came over the headset

"She's right, there aren't any cameras in that lair, all I got to watch now is the footage from your hidden camera."

Inker's little lie was shot down in an instant, still he had to think of something else to say and buy time.

"Agent 3? Agent 3 are you there?" Callie was now talking through the headset, she must be in the shack with Sky and the Cap'n

"Callie? I could really use your help right about now."

"Marie and I are at gramps' shack but the boss kettle is gone and we can't get to you in time."

"Can you just start making your way over here? I'll do what I can to keep them at bay."

"Okay, be careful though."

Octavia had easily noticed Inker mumbling to someone through his headset.

"Calling for help? Don't bother, if any one of us hears any shooting you're going down first. Plus you are in the deepest part of Octo Valley nobody can reach you here. I'll ask you again, who told you to come here at this time?"

Inker tried his best to think of another plausible lie.

Nothing, he couldn't think of anything that would explain how he found out about Lila that didn't involve Victoria.

"I'll take your silence as confirmation that i'm right, I suspected that someone in the Octarian army was helping you after you somehow made it to Melanin prison in under four days. You know if you tell me who brought you here I might just order the Elites to go and arrest them instead of shooting you where you stand."

'_Was she making a deal?'_ Inker couldn't tell, but no way could he trust Octavia, she's the same one or squidnapped Kal and nearly splatted him when he returned Victoria…

'_Oh no, that's right I was there when we brought Victoria back, even if we do get away she'll be the prime suspect. Oh what the heck I got three lives.'_

Inker stepped towards Octavia, drawing the attention of all nearby Elite Octolings

"What are you doing?" Kal asked

In a voice loud enough for everyone in the lair to hear, Inker introduced himself to Octavia.

"Acting Leader Octavia right, I am Inker Cetamari, the third agent of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, I have encountered your kind many times and single handedly assaulted 32 Octarian lairs, let my friends and your prisoner go, I offer myself and all my knowledge on the New Squidbeak Splatoon and anything else you would like to know about Inkopolis or its people."

"Hold on what are you doing? Callie and Marie already left! Hold on for ju-"

Inker removed his headset drowning out Sky's voice, he also dropped his Hero Shot.

Lila was watching from her glass capsule, she couldn't understand what was going on?

"Kal what's happening?" she asked

"The other two with me here today are volunteers and not involved with any of the New Squidbeak Splatoon's regular operations, your prisoner is also a child with nothing to do with Inkopolis' army, I am far more valuable than them, so please let them go."

Octavia seemed pleased "Well well, isn't this a surprise, sacrificing yourself to save your buddies?" She turned to her fellow Elite Octolings "we can catch the mole eventually, Agent 3 however is quite valuable, take him away."

Kal and Neon watched as the Elite Octolings escorted Inker away.

'_Dammit what can I do? I can't just stand here and watch can I?'_

Kal looked at Neon, Inker aside she was the most capable Inkling there was when it came to a fight. Neon must also have hated watching her friend go, her hands moved from her E-liter to her Squid Beakons and the Inkzooka Canned Special she pocketed earlier, she silently let a Squid Beakon drop to her feet, while glancing around for a possible method of attack.

"Well now, if you would get going back to Inkopolis it would be much appreciated." Octavia said with a nod.

Kal clutched his Slosher tightly glaring at the Elites walking away with Inker, he whispered to Neon. "We aren't letting Inker go like this are we?"

"I don't know, Inker is too close to those Elites, even if I use the Inkzooka or my Kraken I doubt I could get them all before they splat..."

Neon turned to look at Kal as she said this, then her eyes went wide

Last time she checked, there shouldn't be a laser beaming down on her friend's head. Also why did Octavia nod towards them?

On instinct, Neon dove at Kalus, pushing him out of the way just as several Octosnipers opened fire on the two.

Neon lay on top of Kal for a moment, upon noticing that he was fine she rolled over and looked upwards.

An Octarian saucer hovered above them carrying six Octosnipers.

The Octosnipers were spread evenly over the saucer so only three of them could fire at once, the saucer spun around so that the second group of Snipers could fire while the other group recharged.

Neon prepared to fire back, but with her turf wars experience she could easily judge the distance and realised she was outranged, so she helped Kal up and ran for cover just as the Octosnipers fired again..

Inker was startled by the sudden sound of sniper fire, he turned and saw what was going on.

He started struggling "What are you doing? You gave me your word!"

Octavia however just laughed "Did I? I don't remember agreeing to your terms."

"Why youuu"

"All's fair in love and war, and this is no doubt, war."

Inker now regretted leaving his Hero Shot behind, at least he still had his Seekers, Burst Bombs and Splat bombs.

Sure the Hero Suit could save him twice as long as he was in a lair, but Octavia and the other Octolings here were all Elites, they wouldn't take long to catch on and just wait by the spawn point to splat him.

Octavia and the Elite Octolings kept dragging Inker away, leaving that saucer to deal with Kal and Neon.

By now Neon and Kal were running around all over and around the Octobot King using it as cover to block the Octosnipers' shots.

The Octosnipers on the saucer could not fire directly downwards so the saucer had to fly around the Octobot king everytime Neon and Kal left their line of sight.

"Hey Tony didn't you say you never miss?"

"Shut up Kevin, and fly the saucer."

These were the same Octarians who took out Vert's group, they had fun the last time, but this small group of two was being surprisingly resilient, it was slightly annoying, especially since this little skirmish was supposed to be completely in their favor.

Oh well, as long as they flew high enough, no Inkling weapon should be able to reach them

"Neon why aren't you shooting back at them?"

"They are too high! no way I can hit them from here!"

"What about Inker then?"

"What?"

"Can you hit the Octolings around Inker?"

"I could but wouldn't that mean more trouble for us?

The two of them kept moving around and covering turf to avoid getting splatted by Octosnipers.

"If they were I bit lower I might be able to hit them with the Inkzooka I picked up."

"I doubt they'll fly any lower, what else could we do?"

"Well you should have your special ready by now, what if you launched an Inkstrike?"

"Have you seen how fast that saucer moves? It would be impossi-"

"Not that, what if you launched it at Inker?"

"What good would that do? We'd still have this saucer chasing us!"

"Well it wouldn't help us, but right now I don't see any way out of this, if we are going down here we might as well take that Octarian Acting whatever down with us!"

"Don't be so quick to give up! You are only reliable when it comes to combat so can't you think of something?!"

"I'm sorry, i've looked everywhere and considered everything, I really can't think of any way we can make it out of here."

"Dang"

Thinking before acting may not have been Neon's strong suit, but Neon was definitely the best when it came to adapting in battle, Kal knew this, if Neon was about ready to give up, then he had no hope either.

Inker on the other hand had also been looking for a way out, he started struggling against the Elite Octolings holding him when he saw Kal and Neon in trouble but they easily subdued him. Inker had armor so if the Elites shot at him he would have enough time to toss a splat bomb their way, after that they would be hostile towards him though, so after respawning he would have to somehow run back to Kal and Neon before the Octarians discover that he had respawned.

That is if the Octolings don't go after Neon and Kal, then they'd really be screwed.

It was not a good plan, so Inker had to hold back for now, as long as the Elite Octolings weren't joining in the fight they could buy some time.

The only question is: buy time for what?

This could go on forever by the looks of it, but it wouldn't be long before Inker was brought to Nautilus, Neon and Kal would also get tired eventually and get splatted.

And it was already beginning to happen.

"No let me go you damn seaweed heads!"

Inker struggled trying to prevent the Elites from dragging him out of the lair. However it was still one against a couple dozen, Inker squirmed and kicked but the Elite Octolings simply grabbed all his limbs and hoisted him up.

Inker then transformed into Squid form, becoming small enough to slip free, but then the Elites started trying to stomp on him, he quickly transformed back and was seized again.

Meanwhile Kal was running out of breath.

"Huff, huff, Sky where are Callie and Marie?" Kal spoke into his headset while trying to catch his breath.

"I have no idea, Callie said she had an idea then they just left."

Neon, who was distracting the Octosnipers noticed Inker's struggle, he was almost out of the lair, she had to do something quick. Neon joined Kal after a bit more hopping about.

"Kal use your Inkstrike right now and hit Inker, i'll keep them distracted."

"But that won't work! They'll just splat Inker and turn on us."

"If you don't he'll be taken away."

"That would be better than being splated."

"If you won't do it then give your stuff to me."

"No, let go of my Inkstrike! Fine, i'll do it, but we gotta go help Inker as soon as it's launched."

"You think I don't know that? I'll shoot my way towards him, then i'll grab him and hop back to the squid beakon I dropped earlier."

"Okay, keep that saucer distracted!"

"Of course, you hide under the Octobot King for a sec."

Now that they had some sort of a plan, Neon smiled and was ready to run around again.

"How are you not tired?"

"What from running around? We used to do that every day in Turf Wars remember? the real question is why are you tired."

Neon ran out into the open, almost immediately the Octosnipers on the saucer all targetted her, a couple seconds later they fired just has Neon hopped back over the Octobot King.

By this time Kal had crawled back out of hiding and launched his Inkstrike, a large swirling marked appeared under Inker,who immediately realised what his friends were doing. Inker reached for a Splat bomb, intending on tossing it at Octavia as soon as the Inkstrike hit.

Since the Octarians were well co-ordinated the saucer's occupants immediately noticed the Inkstrike missile launch and alerted the Elite Octolings.

Octavia and the other Elite Octolings dropped Inker and scattered as a massive blue ink tornado came whirling down on their position.

Because they had been alerted and scattered not a single Elite Octoling was hit by the inkstrike, however what lay before them was now a large blue puddle.

Inker had hidden inside it, as the Elite Octolings begun to cover the blue ink he hopped up and tossed a Splat Bomb at Octavia.

"Watch out!" one of the Elites hit the Splat Bomb mid flight and knocked it out of Octavia's way and was splatted in the process.

'_Of course, these Octarians are treating Octavia like the new DJ Octavio, of course they wouldn't let her be splatted that easily.'_ Inker thought

"Come on, we gotta make our stand together!" Neon suddenly appeared saying dangerous things, having swam towards Inker while the Octosnipers focused on Kal, the Inkling who had dared attack their Acting Leader.

Neon grabbed Inker and super jumped back towards the Octobot King.

For now at least the three were together and able to help each other.

Inker ran for his Hero Shot and headset, putting them back on as he ran for cover from Octosnipers, he barely had time to slide behind the Octobot king before the Snipers fired.

"Okay, so what now?" Kal asked

"Don't ask me, I just thought it would be nice if we could fight all together one last time." Neon said

"Don't say stuff like that, aren't you the one who never gives up when it comes to fighting?"

"That's when I know I can win, this time I really can't see a way out, sorry guys."

"Don't apologise, I was the one who decided to bring you and Kal along, if anything its my fault you were dragged into this."

Inker Neon and Kal all ran around the Octobot king again as the Octarian saucer had them in their sights again, as they ran to the other side, Inker, Neon and Kal could see the sight of many angry Elite Octolings approaching.

"Help is on the way! Don't worry!" a voice rang out of nowhere

'_Did Callie and Marie finally get here? No they couldn't move that fast.'_

Hoping that someone had come for them, Inker poked his head out from behind the Octobot King and looked towards the source of the voice.

It wasn't Callie and Marie, it was a second Octarian saucer.

Regular Octolings hopped down in front of the Elite ones. Surprised by the sudden arrival of reinforcements, the Elite Octolings stopped their advance.

"Hey what are you doing here?! Who's orders are you following?!"

Octavia's voice could be heard yelling at the new arrivals.

The last Octoling to leave the saucer was an Elite one.

"Mine, I saw an Inkling transport heading for this lair and remembered that our prisoner was still here."

Kal recognised the Elite Octoling as the Captain of the Melanin prison guards.

The Captain of the guard looked in the Inklings' direction.

"I thought there'd be nobody here so I came to retrieve our prisoner, I heard that we would abandon this place today, so why are you having a skirmish here?"

"Did you really think I would try the same plan twice? I wasn't using your Inkling as bait for Agent 3, I was using it to check either or not someone was leaking information. Now move your troops aside, we got this handled!"

"Of course I could do that, but first I want you to witness this, I have modified our old Octobrushes to make a copy of Agent 1's weapon of choice."

"Are those Rollers?!" Inker exclaimed

The regular Octolings were holding what appeared to be an Octarian version of a Roller weapon.

"ADVANCE!"

At the captain's orders all of the Octolings charged towards Inker and the others.

'_That can't be good…'_

Snipers from above, Rollers in front, Elites further behind, there really was no way out.

The Elite Octolings followed closely behind the Octolings and the Octosnipers on the saucer kept watch, waiting for an Inkling to emerge and try to fire at their comrades on the ground.

The Octolings ran with their Roller's on the ground, quickly covering the entire platform behind them in magenta ink.

If they tried to splat the Octolings before they got close enough the Octosnipers would pick them off, if they tried to hide form the Octosnipers the Octolings would close in and run them down.

As long as that saucer was still watching them, they couldn't do anything.

"We are here Agent 3! Where are you?"

"Marie? We are behind the Octobot King, where are you?"

"Right above you guys."

Inker could barely see a helicopter with the Inkopolis News logo painted on its side flying in.

"Luckily I got my pilot's license a month ago, so Callie and I borrowed a news helicopter."

The door on its side opened and Callie appeared holding Marie's Hero Charger.

"Alright shoot at that saucer Callie." Marie called out from the pilot seat of the helicopter.

"Okie, umm I haven't used a Charger in forever so I'll probably miss."

"It doesn't matter if you do, we just need to get their attention!"

Callie fired a shot at the Octosnipers on the saucer.

Luckily the saucer didn't move so Callie managed hit an Octosniper, as the entire saucer crew was too focused on the scene below them to see or hear the Inkopolis news copter approach.

"What was that?"

"We lost Charlie! Inkling aircraft at 3 o'clock!"

In response to losing one of their comrades, the Octosnipers switched their target to Callie.

"Inkcoming!" Callie yelled as the Octosnipers took aim.

Marie quickly pulled the helicopter away, then covered her mouth as she felt her lunch rush up to her throat, she may have prefered flying, but she was still afraid of heights. Callie shut the chopper's door and sat back inside.

The Octarian saucer quickly gave chase to Callie and Marie's chopper. On the ground, Octavia and the others were so focused on the trapped Inklings on the ground that they didn't noticed their saucer had flown after a helicopter.

The Octolings and Elite Octolings were closing in fast, but now that there was no unreachable Octosnipers pinning them down, Neon was free to pick them off with her E-Liter as they approached.

The Octolings armed with rollers led the charge, but were inexperienced with their new weapons, normally an Inkling could lob globs of Ink at nearby targets using a Roller, but these Octolings did not know that, instead they just tried to run down their opponents with their Rollers.

Not only was that method ineffective, but they also ended up blocking the shots of the Elite Octolings, who were trying to hit Inker, Neon and Kal with Octoshots.

The tide had somewhat turned around, the Roller Octolings seemed incompatible with the Elite Octolings. Inker decided that they'd best leave before the Octolings learned to properly use those Rollers.

"Neon, can you pass me that Inkzooka you picked up a while ago?"

"Hmm?" Neon was a bit confused for a moment, but she could guess what Inker had planned.

"Do you want to clear a path with the Inkzooka and make a run for it?"

"No, I want you to charge forward with Kraken, then i'll use the Inkzooka afterwards."

"That works too! Catch!"

Neon tossed the canned special over to Inker.

"Callie, Marie, can you guys land somewhere near the spawn point?"

Back in the air Marie and Callie were being chased by the Octarian saucer.

The Octosnipers took turns firing at the helicopter with no real effect, Callie tried to shoot back with Marie's Hero Charger, but she could not aim well with it.

"Sure I could, but we need to do something about that saucer first."

"I got an Idea, Marie I want you to fly higher then fly over the saucer for just a moment."

Callie said as she put down Marie's Hero Charger and grabbed her Hero Roller.

"What are you trying to do?"

"I can't hit anything with your charger while we are moving, so instead i'll leap on the saucer with my Roller!"

"That's….. Not to bad of an idea, okay I'll try."

Marie jerked the helicopter backwards, they slowed down dramatically and lost quite a bit of altitude, they nearly collided with the Octarian saucer.

"Alright! Go get Agent 3 and the others, I'll be back!"

With that Callie lept off the news chopper and onto the Octarian saucer.

The Octarians on the saucer were in shock after seeing Marie nearly collide with them mid air, luckily their pilot was very experienced and managed to avoid a collision.

The Octosnipers had just breathed a sigh of relief before they heard a shout.

"WHAMMY KABLAMMY!" Callie rolled over one Octosniper with her Hero Roller.

Leaving her cheerful cousin behind, Marie flew for the spawn point.

As Marie brought the helicopter down, Neon transformed into Kraken form to make a path through the wall of Octolings.

"What is that?!" an Octoling exclaimed when she saw Neon's Kraken form charging at them.

"Don't just stand there! Run and don't let it close the distance!" a more experienced Elite Octoling shouted.

A few Octolings with Rollers were squashed, while the Elite Octolings knew to back up with shooting at Neon to knock her back.

A Kraken only lasts about six seconds so Neon started backing up when four seconds had passed. As Neon's Kraken expired, Inker took out the Inkzooka and started firing at the Elite Octolings.

Back in the air, the Octosnipers went into a panic after noticing an Inkling attacking them at such close range.

"Hey! There's an Inkling on board with us!"

Callie splatted another Octosniper with a splat bomb and got a second by flinging ink at it from her Roller.

As she ran around the saucer the last two Octosnipers gave up on shooting at this close of a range, they lept off their platforms and off the saucer, escaping Callie's wrath.

"Abandon craft!"

Like Inklings, the Octosnipers had no bones so falling from such a height could only hurt a bit.

Now that there was nobody left on the saucer Callie waited for Marie to return, but then from a pool in ink in the center of the saucer, a large Octostriker flew out, yelling things that Callie could not understand.

Inkstrikes fired out of the Octostriker's helmet, Callie quickly moved out of its path, then tried to fling ink at the Octostriker to no avail.

The Octostriker flew rather slowly, but it was still launching Inkstrike after Inkstrike, Callie ran around avoiding the Magenta coloured tornados.

"Umm Marie, I might need some help here."

"Just jump down, you'll be fine."

"But i'm so high up, it'll hurt."

"If you don't we might leave without you."

"You're so mean… okay im coming down! Catch me!"

Callie lept off the saucer onto the platform below.

"I got you!" Kal said as he ran for Callie.

Callie had a soft landing, because Kal went too far and ended up under her, Callie thanked him and helped him up, then the two joined Neon next to the spawn point as Marie came in with a rough landing.

With everyone else safe, Inker turned his attention to splatting as much Octolings as he could before he was splatted.

"What's Inker doing?"

"He's just buying us time."

"We have to help him!"

"He'll be fine."

"No he won't!"

Inker's armor gave way, a few moments later he was splatted by the sheer number of Elite Octolings.

Seeing the blue menace finally burst into ink, the Elite Octolings cheered!

"Yes! Agent 3 falls!"

Kal however was shocked.

"Oh no! Not Inker!"

"Umm i'm right here."

Behind Kal, Inker stepped out of the spawn point

"Wha?"

"The Hero Suit lets you respawn a few times as long as you got a spawn point nearby."

"Ohhh, so I was."

"Worried for no reason."

Aside form Kal everyone else knew Inker could respawn, (Neon and Sky heard it from Cap'n Cuttlefish in chapter 6) so they had all known why Inker asked them to wait at the spawn point.

"Alright quickly lets fly out of here! I couldn't get Octavia with the Inkzooka but that doesn't matter we need to leave!"

Marie took off with everyone inside.

"Wait a second we are forgetting someone!" Kal called out to the others

"?"

Amidst all the fighting they had forgotten all about Lila.

Lila was still stilling in a glass capsule, she pressed herself against the glass, making it obvious that she wanted to come out. However that glass capsule had a number lock on it, even if they turned back now how could they get her out of there?

"Marie, could you fly low enough and fast enough to break that glass capsule with the helicopter" Inker asked

"Are you crazy!?"

"I can't think of another way, they don't have a key nearby this time, instead they are using a number lock. Come on if we don't rescue Lila what would be the point of coming here?"

"You do know that I just got my pilot's license four days ago?"

"It doesn't matter just do it!"

"Sigh, the director is going to kill me.. Okay everybody hold on to something!"

Turning back, Marie flew just low enough to hit the top of the capsule, but high enough so that she wouldn't ram Lila.

"Hang on…"

The glass shattered, Lila ducked and covered her head to protect herself from any shards of glass, while the news helicopter lurched forward from the impact.

"Don't flip over, don't flip over, don't flip over!" Everyone yelled in unison.

Marie pulled back as hard as she could to stop the helicopter from flipping forwards, the chopper snapped backwards, hitting it's tail on the ground for a brief moment.

Lila ran towards the chopper and Kal lifted her inside, as the Octarians watched, far out of range.

"Get that saucer down here A.S.A.P, everyone load up quickly!" the captain of the guard called out as the Inkopolis news chopper flew away.

"There's no need." Octavia replied

"What? They'll get away."

"So what, it doesn't matter, I wanted to check for a mole and we've accomplished that, we even managed to get Agent 3. Let those Inklings have a hollow victory, we got work to do once we return to Nautilus. In the meantime, scrap all those oversized paint rollers your troops are holding."

"What why?"

"Do you really need to ask? All they did was block our soldiers from hitting the Inklings, aside from that it has almost no range so your troops didn't really do anything."

"You didn't do much either." the Captain of the guard muttered

"Excuse me?!"

"Nothing ma'am, i'll head back to Nautilus as commanded."

With clenched fists, the captain of the guard and her Roller wielding Octolings boarded their own saucer and flew off.

"That didn't go as planned."

"I hate to say this but haven't you been questioning the Acting Leader a lot recently?" one of the surviving Octolings asked

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing, I just noticed that…. Never mind."

* * *

Meanwhile back in the Inkopolis news helicopter.

"I'm never doing that again." Marie said from the pilot seat

She could feel a cold breeze blowing in, as she had broken part of the windshield when she rammed Lila's capsule, also something must have happened to the tail because the helicopter wouldn't fly straight.

"Why not? There seems to be a big advantage if we fight from the sky, I know you loved planes but I had no idea you actually got a pilot license, otherwise I would have asked to try this earlier." Inker said

"No, i'm never flying a helicopter again." once again Marie felt like hurling

This time Callie replied with sparkling eyes "Come on Marie, imagine all the sights we could see if we flew around Inkopolis! I didn't know they'd let us take this chopper so easily, we should fly around more often."

"No! If i'm traveling by air again, it's gotta be by plane, and one that i'm not flying."

"Why is that? Didn't you say you liked flying in that Splatfest we did back then?"

"I like flying in safe and stable planes, not a wobbly and floppy helicopter, it makes me feel sick."

"Hmm? But all this twisting and turning while so high up feels like being on a roller coaster! Oh wait you feel sick on those too, I wonder why…"

"Callie no."

"You know I remember hearing you mumbling something during the announcement for cars vs planes."

"I hate you."

"Yeah you said something before stating that planes were super safe, what was it?"

"Okay! I'm afraid of heights alright!"

"There it is! News for all you guys, Marie is afraid of heights!"

Marie wasn't about to let Callie one up her like that.

"By the way, we agreed to work together to save Inker, when we get back to Inkopolis we are going our own ways again."

"Yep."

"Good, cause it was your idea to borrow this helicopter from the studio, so when the director asks why it's all dented you can explain all by yourself."

"..."

From the back seats Inker, Neon, Kalus and the newly freed Lila laughed as they watched a teary eyed Callie throw herself at Marie.

"Looks like they are still somewhat mad at each other, oh well at least they'll talk to each other now." Inker said as he watched the Squid sisters' banter

"It was your flying that did this, you need to come with meeeeee!"

"Hey! Don't shake me when im flying a company chopper above Octarian territory! It was your idea, so you take responsibility."

"Nooo I keep getting into trouble lately, you're a good girl, they'll forgive you."

"Let go of me, I can't see what's ahead."

'_Ummm isn't that a bit dangerous?'_ Kal wondered

The Inklings flew over the Octarian Undercity, from up here, the degrading city actually looked quite peaceful.

Marie was dealing with Callie, Lila was asking Inker to tell her stories of the New Squidbeak Splatoon and Neon and Kal were glancing out the window.

'_I wonder how Victoria's doing right now. Victoria…. Oh right!'_ Kal lept from his seat

"Drop me off right here."

Callie and Marie both stopped their argument and looked at Kal, confused.

"What why? This is still Octo Valley."

"Yes I know, but I just remembered that the Octarians know that someone is helping us from Octo Valley. I need to go warn Victoria before it's too late. Marie drop me off as soon as you can."

"Kal how do you even plan on finding Victoria in Octo Valley?"

"Simple, i'll go find Victoria's parents, they should know where she lives right?"

"What about the cameras all over the Valley?"

"I'll ask Sky to warn me of any cameras."

"And what if Victoria's roommate sounds the alarm?"

"..."

"Look it will be a while, let's go back and find something to cover our tentacles then go visit Victoria."

"But if she gets caught."

"She won't, they got no evidence proving that its her, Victoria will be fine."

"I want to believe you, but lately it seems that nothing good comes out of waiting. I'm getting off here."

While they were still above the Undercity, Kal grabbed his Slosher and lept off the helicopter.

"Kal wait!" Inker followed.

"Kalus! Agent 3!" Lila called out as the two fell towards the ground.

Neon seemed to want to go as well, but she didn't move

"You're not going?" Callie asked

"Nah, they're just talking and hiding, a buncha boring stuff, i'd rather go back to Inkopolis tower."

"Umm okay suit yourself."

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

"Ma'am, the team as assembled as ordered."

Before Octavia stood six Elite Octolings, a team assembled to deal with rebelling Octarians.

"Good, I want you to go to the Undercity and snuff out the one who leaked information to the Inklings."

"Okay, do you have any suspects yet?"

"It could be anyone at Nautilus base, look we don't need to do any kind of quiet investigations, make this one loud. I want you to go to the homes of any soldier you like, accuse anyone you like and make a mess of their homes while searching for evidence. Rumors will spread amongst the populace and that will scare whoever leaked information out of hiding."

"So you want us to spook them out of hiding? What should we do with them if they confess"

"Bring them here alive, we need to show everyone the treatment given to traitors"

"Understood."

As one team of Elites left, Octavia turned her attention to another.

"Do we have contact with our spy in Inkopolis?"

"Yes, we can have them act out at anytime, just make the call."

"Good, Agent 3 had a spy in Octo Valley this whole time, now it's time we answer with our own."

"What should she do?"

"Nothing for now, let us wait until the traitor is found."


	14. Conspiracy Brews

**Inkopolis**

When Lila was finally brought back she was immediately sent to a hospital for a checkup. The Boiling pit had left many scars on her, and she looked nothing like the Inkling that was taken from Inkopolis.

Meanwhile Callie and Marie were scolded for the damage they had done to the Inkopolis news helicopter they borrowed. Of course the two were still Inkopolis' most popular celebrities so they didn't get too much punishment, they simply got lectured and then moved on with their lives.

The other captured Inklings had been back for over a week now, and news of there return had already been broadcasted on Inkopolis news, however those Inklings did not go through the same things that Lila went through.

Lila survived the boiling pit and bore the evidence of Octarian cruelty, therefore Inkopolis news wanted a report on her experience in Octo Valley.

Since Callie and Marie worked for Inkopolis news and had trashed that helicopter they had to do something to make up for it, therefore the two paid Lila a visit, along with a camera crew, they asked her all about Melanin prison, how she was treated, how did it feel to be rescued etc.

Of course the New Squidbeak Splatoon had to remain secret, so Callie and Marie told Lila not to mention Agent 3 and his friends to anyone before they started filming, claiming that if the New Squidbeak Splatoon were to be exposed, there would be too much attention and people questioning their actions.

Lila of course, was just grateful to be rescued and agreed not to mention Agent 3.

In the meantime, the Inkopolis Police Department informed Lila's family about her return.

For the first time since his release from prison, Laven left his self imposed confinement, he and his family went to see Lila at the hospital.

"Lila!"

"Mom! Dad! Laven!"

With the camera still rolling Lila lept from her seat and ran into the arms of her family.

They didn't care if Lila had so many blisters and scars from the boiling pit, she was safe and it was all that mattered.

The four Inklings embraced each other and wouldn't let go.

Seeing this heartwarming scene, Callie and Marie wiped away tears, for the moment they had forgotten all about what made them so angry at each other, they were glad to have come together and to have rescued Lila.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have known better than to bring you to Inkopolis Tower." Laven said with an apologetic tone.

"Don't worry about that, i'm safe now."

"Who brought you back? We need to thank them."

Lila glanced at Callie and Marie for a moment.

She could tell her family who saved her right?

Probably, but maybe when they get back home.

"A few policemen saved me, I don't know where they went though."

"Was it Vert?"

"I don't know."

"Oh forget it, were just glad you're back."

With their family reunited, Lila, Laven and their parents all left together.

"Did we get all that?" Marie asked a squid holding a camera who had been recording the whole thing.

If they were making a documentary on the horrors of Octo Valley's prisons that family reunion had to go in.

"Yes."

* * *

**Octo Valley, Nautilus base**

Following her daily routine Victoria found herself in Nautilus base once again.

Usually she'd make conversation with whoever she saw, but right now it seemed that everyone was drawn to the few regular troops who saw combat recently.

Namely the former Melanin Prison guards, a couple of Octosnipers and that big mouthed Kevin.

"And after they all hopped off the saucer, I flew out alone and took on Agent 1, she was fast and all but I managed to beat her back, she then ran to the other Inklings for help."

"Ohhhh!"

They were telling all sorts of tall tales, Victoria didn't believe a word of it, after all she had experienced Inker's fighting potential firsthand, she'd never underestimate an Inkling again.

Plus, none of them ever mentioned splatting an Inkling so there was nothing to worry about.

It seemed like she wasn't the only one who didn't believe those stories, a few other Octarians also avoided the huge crowd listening to those far fetched stories.

A few of these ones talked amongst themselves, occasionally stealing glances at the one's letting stories, others sat by themselves.

An Octoling sat next to Victoria, she looked at her for a moment.

"Umm, is someone sitting here?"

"No, you can sit there."

Soon a second Octoling sat in front of Victoria and the other one, those two started talking amongst themselves.

Victoria didn't care what they were talking about, truth be told she would rather hear Kevin's story for once, but mostly cause she wanted to know what happened to Kal and the others once she had left them.

Of course all Kevin would talk about was his duel with Agent 1, since Callie wasn't amongst the group when Victoria was there, she assumed that Kevin was either making stuff up, or named either Kal or Neon, Agent 1.

According to him, Agent 3 and two others showed up and were ambushed after reaching the prisoner, to Victoria it seemed unlikely since she had told them where the guards would have been hiding, plus there shouldn't have been anyone there, she heard the acting leader announced that they were pulling out of that area.

Also the idea of Kevin flying a saucer in a dogfight with an Inkling helicopter was preposterous, where could Inker and his friends possibly obtain a helicopter?

"And then they all ran for their chopper expect one, yep Agent 3 didn't notice all his pals had bolted and got left behind, the Elites gunned him down in a matter of seconds."

"Ohhh!"

'_Pfft yeah right, as if Inker would do such a stupid thing.'_

Attracted by the "ohh"ing and "ahh"ing the two Octolings sitting near Victoria looked towards the big crowd.

"What's going on over there?" one of them asked

"Kevin is telling his stories again." Victoria replied

"What kind of stories? He seems to be attracting a lot of attention."

"I don't know, something about fighting in the Octobot King's lair, I don't believe any of it so i'm not interested."

However her statement about fighting in the Octobot King's lair had caught their attention.

The Octoling next to Victoria turned towards her.

"Well was there fighting in Octavio's lair? I just got back from Octo Canyon so I wouldn't know."

Victoria looked at this Octoling, why was she at Octo Canyon? She didn't look like she was a part of the reserve army, and that place stopped being a vacation resort ages ago…. also what was with her hair? Why did she tie her tentacles backwards in a ponytail? It kinda reminded Victoria of Inker and Kal's hairstyles.

"I don't know, I wasn't there, in fact nobody was supposed to be there so I wouldn't be so quick to believe anything that guy says."

Victoria noticed the Octoling in front of her also seemed to be paying close attention to her.

'_Is she trying to figure something out? Or am I just being paranoid?'_

A moment later the Octoling turned around and stared at Kevin at the Melanin guards' little circle of fans.

She was giving off that same look she gave Victoria, as if she was trying to understand something.

"Oh well, sounds like we missing something during our time in Octo Canyon, come on Lynn, lets go say hi to our Splatoon again."

With that the Octoling with the odd stare and the pony tailed Octoling both left.

'_Hmm? Are they whispering something?'_ Victoria noticed as the two walked off and melted into the group.

"Claire! Lynn! Welcome back!" someone said

'_Hmmm, guess they really were on vacation in Octo Canyon.'_

* * *

**Holter family household, Octo Valley**

"Oh? I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

Because they had no idea how to find Victoria, Kal and Inker decided to ask her parents for help, they had travelled back to the three story house with the graffiti on the side, where Maria welcomed them inside before anyone could see them.

"Sorry for showing up unannounced but can you call Victoria?" Inker asked

"Sure but I doubt she'll answer, what's wrong anyways?"

"We messed up, the Octarian army did set up a trap, but it wasn't meant for us, long story short they know that someone's been helping us now so we need to warn Victoria."

Maria nodded and turned her attention to the phone.

'Vrrt vrrt'

If Victoria was on duty she would have had to leave her phone silent, however she was still in the mess hall having lunch.

Victoria took her phone out of her pocket, it wasn't the squid phone she had received before, that thing couldn't be used with Octarian sim cards.

One glance at the number was all she needed to decline the call.

"She's not picking up."

"_Figures…. "_ Inker thought "Do you know anyone else who can get in touch with her?"

"I do, but is it really a good idea to get more Octarians involved?"

"Right, okay can you give us her address? I'll ask our mission control to guide us there." Kal was visibly concerned

"Yes of course, but Victoria should be at Nautilus base right now."

"Nautilus base?"

"If i'm not mistaken, that's the Octarian army's main base?" Inker guessed, having heard the name "Nautilus" before.

"You're right, it may be old, but its the largest and most secure place in Octo Valley, no way you could get in there."

"What is Victoria doing there at this time?"

"Isn't it obvious? She's still a soldier, she's on duty there."

"Inker do you think you can find a way inside that place?"

"Heck no! We barely made it out just facing the Elites, no way we could sneak into a base containing the entire Octarian army, besides Nautilus base is no Octarian lair, I can't respawn there, just like how I can't respawn here."

Maria tilted her head at the mention of "respawning" the Octarians had no idea the Inklings had already found a way to respawn long ago.

"Still, we need to warn Victoria" Kal persisted, Maria had made it obvious that she was a former Elite Octoling so Kal turned to her for help. "Do you think they could let you visit Victoria?"

"No, I'm a civilian now, nobody enters Nautilus unless they are part of the army, not even the Octo Valley News reporters can get inside."

"Wait, if she's not picking up and she's in a place like that? Could she have already been captured?"

"I don't think captured is the right word here, no she wouldn't be arrested yet, normally a significant amount of evidence would be needed to arrest a traitor, the evidence would have to be obtained by Elite Octolings through investigation or through force."

"But Octavia is an Elite Octoling and she was the one who found out that we were getting help."

If what Maria said was true then Octavia's word would be enough to convict Victoria.

Kal recalled the way he was treated in Melanin prison, but that was because of the Octarian's anger towards Inklings in general, how would they treat a member of their own race?

"That's not how Octo Valley sees her, right now she's taking over for Octavio and putting the integrity of Octo Valley before her Elite Octoling duties, at least that's what they think."

Hearing that Kal could relax a bit knowing that they had a bit more time to get to Victoria, still he wanted to know what would happen to Octarian prisoners.

"By the way, what would Victoria's punishment be if she was captured?"

"For betraying Octarian kind and ignoring the vows she took as an Octarian soldier? Public execution."

Hearing that, Kal became more determined than ever.

"When do Octarian soldiers come back home?"

"It depends, all soldiers have different shifts, plus if there is a threat to Octo Valley, or if they are in the middle of an operation they may not come home at all."

"What about Victoria? What's her schedule?"

"I'm not sure, I do know that she comes home every night so I guess she'll be back at her apartment before midnight."

"Alright then, we will just have to wait until nightfall then…. By the way, should we bring her back here?"

Maria looked confused

"Aren't you here to take her to Inkopolis?"

Kal shook his head

"No, unfortunately Inkopolis doesn't seem ready to accept Octolings yet, the very least I want to warn Victoria and get her to leave Octo Valley and go somewhere else, before doing that I think she should first reconnect with her family."

At the mention of reconnecting, Maria showed a sad expression

"Didn't we tell you last time? No way Victoria could forgive us now and if we explain everything to her, she'll just get mad, plus it would undo our efforts to make Victoria independant."

"Are you really okay with that? Your daughter is wanted for high treason, if you don't settle things now you may never get to see each other again."

"..."

Maria seemed lost in thought, part of her wanted to reconnect, the other wanted to keep her distance in case someday tragedy strikes.

Inker looked at Kal with a curious expression.

This was the second time he had seen him suddenly get so serious, the first time was almost three months ago, when they were convincing Cap'n Cuttlefish to let Victoria return to Octo Valley.

"You know, somebody once told me that family is everything in Octo Valley."

"Who? Victoria?"

"No, three guards at Melanin prison, when they found out that Inker was my friend they wanted to make a deal with me, they'd tell me where all the held Inklings are if I made sure we never fought Octarians near certain addresses."

"Really? But that's no different from treason, they would be punished by a military tribunal."

"Yes, i'm sure they knew that, but they also explained that they had lost several family members and would do anything to keep the rest of family safe, even if it meant making a deal with me. These Octolings cared for family more than anything else."

Maria was still lost in thought, she just nodded and kept listening.

"Did you know, I offered Victoria a chance to live in Inkopolis? She turned it down of course, saying something about it being unfair to the rest of you if she got to live in such a nice place, that is true, but I've also seen her drop by only to leave right after talking to me. Now I don't know what being an Octarian soldier is like, but I have hunch that Victoria doesn't want to leave Octo Valley for some reason."

'_What was with Kal's sudden change in personality?'_ Inker wondered '_he used to be a carefree Inkling, now sometimes he starts connecting dots and saying some interesting things.'_

"I can't guarantee it, but I bet that Victoria would want to forgive you if you explain everything, show us where to find her, we'll bring her here before leaving Octo Valley, oh and let your husband know we are coming."

"You're not really giving me a choice are you? Alright sure, I guess it's about time, its now or never…. By the way, is there something going on between you and Victoria?" Maria asked

"No! I'm just, returning a favor."

"That's what Victoria said when she introduced you and Agent 3."

"Just a coincidence, there is nothing going on between us."

"Okay" Maria laughed, she didn't believe Kal in the slightest.

"I'm serious!"

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

"Welcome back, I hope you had a good time at Octo Canyon."

"Thanks it's good to be back."

Now that the evidence of them striking a deal with that red Inkling was gone, Claire and Lynn returned to their regular lives.

Claire, as her captain's adjutant had to report directly to her, while Lynn followed along because she wanted to know what had happened recently.

Claire she wasn't really reporting anything, rather she too was curious as to what happened in the time she was gone.

"I'm hearing some strange rumors, did we really take out Agent 3? Also what's this about Inkling aircraft in Octo Valley? I never knew the Inklings could bring an air force down here. I went around the mess hall and saw mixed reactions, some don't believe any of this, but the Octostriker telling those stories wasn't lying either."

"Well what do you think? Another propaganda message or an unbelievable truth?" the captain asked her subordinate

"Ummm, i'm not sure, I didn't look like anyone was lying"

Claire looked at Lynn, expecting her to answer as well, however the Captain spoke again before she could reply.

"Don't think about that, i'm asking you whether you believe it or not? Did we eliminate Agent 3?"

Claire and Lynn exchanged glances.

"I'd want to believe it, but it doesn't feel right, they say he was swarmed by the Elites and splatted but that sounds far too easy…. No, I don't believe it."

The captain smiled at this answer

"Good, you have just proven yourself to be more competent than Acting Leader Octavia."

Claire however winced at this statement

"Thanks, but you should avoid uttering statements like that while we are within the Nautilus base."

"Why? Are you afraid of punishment? The army follows Octavia out of fear, but it is no secret that she is a truly incompetent leader."

Slowly, the captain clenched her hand into a fist, as she recalled all of Octavia's failures being blamed on her.

Claire however knew something was up, she had never seen her commanding officer so angry before, of course she did criticize the Acting Leader back at Melanin, but now she seemed absolutely convinced that Octavia should not be in charge.

Lynn however could not tell what was happening

"Umm permission to speak freely? What's wrong? I'm confused, Can you please tell me what happened while Claire and I were away?"

As expected, Lynn, who held one of the lowest ranks possible, knew her place and would only speak after asking permission.

"Oh you already know, the stories and rumors you heard were in fact true, but it doesn't feel right, Agent 3 should not have gone down so easily, it was like he was trying to get splatted. Aside from that, our Acting Leader always gets careless the moment she gets the upper-hand, everytime something goes well she gets overconfident and messes up, then she has the gall to blame everything on me?!"

The captain realized she was shouting and calmed herself, she then continued retelling the recent events.

"After the two of you left, I had our splatoon modify the old Octobrushes that hadn't seen use in years, we replicated Agent 1's close combat weapon but when we deployed this weapon we couldn't use it effectively. If we had more time I'm sure we could learn to use these new Octo Rollers effectively, instead she ordered that we abandon the Rollers and continue fighting the way we normally do. Ridiculous, what kind of army refuses to move forward and experiment with new weapons and new methods of attack? Right now the Acting Leader is still trying to find a way through that tiny manhole that leads to the center of Inkopolis, why? No reason at all!"

The captain was interrupted by a knock at her door.

Claire opened the door to reveal another Elite Octoling standing there.

Was she a newly promoted Elite? Claire had met almost every Elite through her years of working as the captain's adjutant and she couldn't recognise this one.

"Acting Leader Octavia requests your presence."

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

When Sky arrived here and took up the position of Mission Control it was almost noon, now a whole day and the sun had almost gone down a second time.

As the type of person to wake up early and put responsibility before fun, Sky was not used to staying up a whole day.

But right now his friends needed him, he wasn't going to be like Neon who started playing Turf Wars again as soon as she got back.

Sky slapped himself awake, he kept his eyes on the map of Octo Valley, and kept scrolling through the Undercity's cameras.

Kal and Inker were on their way to Victoria's apartment, he had to guide them there.

"Take a left here, then go straight…..

Hold on careful someone is there….

Okay they are gone keep going, straight forward…..

Alright now go left again, no wait right, go right!"

'_If only I could read the street signs there.'_

Because the Undercity used a language that all types of Octarians could understand, Sky, Kal and Inker could not read them as they were unfamiliar with the Octarian language.

Luckily there were other, simpler ways to navigate the Undercity, in other words Maria had taken a map of the Undercity and circled Victoria's apartment on it as well as her own household, that way all Sky needed to do was circle the same places on his own map and just tell Inker and Kal which way to go.

Sky also kept a sharp eye out for Octarians who might catch a glimpse of the Inklings and raise the alarm.

They could have travelled by rooftop like before, but for some reason there was an Octarian saucer flying around, landing in seemingly random places, with something like that around they couldn't afford to leave ink on the roofs.

The saucer in question was an Octarian transport moving a team of Elite Octolings around.

This team was tasked with spooking the one who leaked information to the Inklings.

They marched up to a randomly selected house were an Octarian soldier lived and broke down the door.

"Nobody move! You're all under suspicion of treason for leaking information to the sworn enemies of Octo Valley!"

The Octolings inside were startled, while the Elite Octolings started making a mess of their home.

They tore down dry wall, flipped over tables, and threw everything out of the cupboards, the poor family that lived here did nothing as they feared being branded as traitors.

Once they had ransacked every room the Elite regrouped and declared the family innocent before boarding their saucer without leaving any sort of compensation.

Even though it was almost night time and everyone was tried, the unfortunate family that just got raided set about with the task of cleaning up their home.

Back in Cuttlefish's shack, Sky watched the Elite Octolings' saucer fly off.

"Careful, that saucer is passing overhead."

In response Kal and Inker pressed themselves against a nearby building and waited for the saucer to fly by.

After that they kept moving, while Sky kept guiding them along without Cuttlefish's help.

"By the way, I haven't heard anything from Cap'n Cuttlefish for a while, is he asleep?" Inker asked.

"No, he went back to Inkopolis an hour ago, something about "covering up" and "meeting and old friend". Take a left up ahead…."

* * *

Cap'n Craig Cuttlefish, former leader of the Squidbeak Splatoon, now leader of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, he had many years behind him and has many acquaintances all over Inkopolis, some were just friends to hang out with, others helped him run the New Squidbeak Splatoon while keeping out of view from the public eye.

The reason for his return to Inkopolis was for this very reason, after all they had just rescued another Inkling, this one had obvious signs of torture on her body and had been interviewed by Inkopolis news, her story was already making headlines and drawing a ton of attention.

Attention would be bad for the New Squidbeak Splatoon, so Cuttlefish had to make sure that the New Squidbeak Splatoon's involvement would be hidden.

Right now he was sitting on a bench in a public park, a place usually bursting with activity made silent by nightfall, all you could hear were the early sounds of crickets chirping.

"Uncle Craig! How's it been?"

A black tentacled Inkling showed up and sat down next to him.

Unlike the usual Inklings one would see, this particular one did not wear what was considered "fresh" nowadays, instead he wore a regular suit and tie giving off an air of maturity around him.

A fitting outfit for him, as he was half Cuttlefish's age, and Cuttlefish was well over a hundred years old.

"Arcus, good to see you again, how are your folks?"

The "folks" in question were an Inkling boy and Inkling girl who had served alongside Cuttlefish during the war, of course they were elderly citizens now.

"Ohh they are doing just fine, in fact i'd say they are envious of what you are doing."

There was a brief moment of silence.

The two Inklings stared into the distance.

"How long has it been since the first time we came here?"

"I'd say more than fifty years."

"Back then I had just finished my first game of Turf Wars."

"And I was investigating a possible Octarian counterattack."

"Other squids said that I was "trash" in turf and that I should give up and do something else."

"And other squids thought I was crazy, they told me to relax and that the war was over."

"Haha, things were so much simpler back then, now the old war veteran who nobody believed is running some kind of secret Splatoon, protecting everyone without them even knowing."

"And the boy who couldn't win in Turf Wars has grown into a fine man who has found a loving wife and has gotten a cabinet job. Which reminds me, defense minister Arcus Hilgendorf, should you really be out here at this time with no bodyguards?"

"What are you talking about? I got the toughest, freshest, most awesome bodyguard I could ever ask for right beside me."

"Oho no need to flatter me, I can't do much at this age. Least I can do now is go back to been MC Craig."

"Really? Aren't you still running the New Squidbeak Splatoon? Mom and Dad keep going on about how they wish they could do something similar, you know, whenever I go to visit them they always mention you, I also notice them glancing at their old Bamboozlers with a hint of nostalgia in their eyes, I bet they miss their life in the first Squidbeak Splatoon."

"Ahh, Inklings have always been like that bucko, we're drawn to action like moths to a light."

Another moment of silence reigned, Cap'n Cuttlefish and Defense minister Arcus glanced about, making sure nobody was nearby.

"Well now down to business, the last time you rescued a bunch of Inklings we credited the recently deceased Detective Vert Brata and his team, we could probably do it again but things may not go so well."

"Why not, is it too hard to believe that Inkopolis police officers could do something outside of Inkopolis?"

"No that story is fine, its the Inkling, Lila, who is the problem."

Arcus groaned as he told Cap'n Cuttlefish what the problem was.

"Back then it was Zapfish, basically stolen items that were returned, but this time it's a kid, an eleven year old, with obvious signs of torture showing up on the news. When you brought back the first group of missing Inklings people started wondering if Inkopolis should be seeing Octo Valley as a threat, now with Lila all over the news, people are saying it's time to reform the Inkopolis army. The prime minister is calling for a meeting to discuss the rising Octarian threat and whether or not we should be funding an army again, of course knowing Steenson he's probably against it, but the sight of a tortured kid is really stirring up the populace, they'll be demanding retribution against Octo Valley"

Cuttlefish shook his head

"Politics, why do I always find myself involved in these things, I don't think i could ever understand all that ruckus."

"Still kicking yourself over Octavio?"

"We all make mistakes. Well there is no mention of the New Squidbeak Splatoon is there?"

"Nope, you're still hidden."

"That's good."

"Definitely, at this point if the public finds out about the New Squidbeak Splatoon they'd rush to join. You'd have a small army in no time."

"I guess nowadays we've forgotten what it's like being outside of Inkopolis, unable to respawn."

Silence reigned for the third time before the two Inklings stood up.

"Well, it's always great to see you again uncle Craig, we better get going now."

"Good to see you too, good luck with your Defense minister gig."

"Thanks, by the way rescuing kidnappees are a much bigger deal than returning Zapfish, I can't just say some unknown force did it, if you bring back anymore I'll need a good excuse soon if we are to keep the New Squidbeak Splatoon secret."

"Don't worry, according to Agent 3, that was the last one."

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octavia's office**

After being summoned by Octavia, Claire, Lynn and the captain of the guard followed the Elite Octoling back to Octavia's office.

Since Octavia wanted to discuss something between her and the captain, Claire and Lynn were told to leave, along with the Elite Octoling that brought her over, however since they still had questions Claire and Lynn waited outside the office for their captain.

With no one else in the room, the two High ranking Octolings greeted each other by rank, as was the custom.

"Captain."

"Acting leader"

"Have you gotten rid of those paint rollers as ordered?"

"Not yet."

"You realize that orders are meant to be carried out immediately right?"

"Yes, but if you give me a bit more time, I'm sure I can find some way to use the Octo Roller to greater effect."

"No, we have just removed the most dangerous Inkling from the New Squidbeak Splatoon, we don't have time for research and development, we need to act."

"What are you talking about?"

"Attacking Inkopolis of course."

"Alright, why did you call me here then?"

"When we catch the one leaking information, I want your troops to led an assault, drop them in Inkopolis Plaza and hold the other side of the manhole long enough for the rest of the army to get through."

"No way." the captain couldn't have answered faster if she tried.

"I'm not asking captain."

"Out of the question! You want me and my troops to land in the heart of Inkopolis without any backup?! We would get splatted instantly!"

"I have full confidence in your abilities to lead your troops to victory."

"No way, I'm all for taking Inkopolis, but i'm not telling my troops to go and commit mass suicide!"

"Orders are orders, if you refuse i'll strip you of your rank and hand it to someone more obedient!"

"Even if you do that, no one in their right mind would be stupid enough to dive right into the heart of Inkopolis! Are you perhaps trying to get rid of me?"

"What are you saying? Without Agent 3 and their spy in Octo Valley, Inkopolis has never been in a weaker state."

"That's true but why that manhole? We know the New Squidbeak Splatoon is always watching that place. Look, if you gave me a chance I could find.."

"Give you a chance!? You failed to guard Melanin prison! You ruined our chance to splat more than just Agent 3! And you are still asking for a chance!?"

"Are you saying everything was my fault?"

"It was your fault! You were in charge of security at Melanin and you failed, You were the one who started adapting new weapons without my knowledge and you were the one showed up unannounced and had your troops block the Elites from splatting those Inklings!"

"Me? You were the one who ordered the Elites away from Melanin and made a bad prediction about Agent 3's arrival time! Plus you didn't tell me that-"

Octavia slammed her desk, silencing the captain.

"Shut up! I am Octo Valley's Acting Leader, until Octavio returns, what I say goes! Now listen You WILL scrap those paint rollers and any other silly weapon you came up with, you WILL not talk back to me again! And you WILL attack Inkopolis as soon as I give the order! I won't take any other suggestion for you, I won't change my mind on this and i'll say no more, this is your last chance! IS THAT CLEAR! CAPTAIN?!"

The captain was furious

How dare this fool blame everything on her

How dare this careless idiot send her and her unit on a suicide mission

How dare this stupid, sad, pathetic excuse of a leader, force her to play along with her immensely flawed plans.

"As you wish ma'am….."

'_A head on attack on Inkopolis plaza, what is she thinking? __No way would I let so many good Octarians die like that.'_

The captain left Octavia's office, Claire and Lynn, who were waiting by the door followed her as they walked further and further away from Octavia's door.

"Umm ma'am, I'm guessing we aren't rushing blindly into Inkopolis." Claire asked

"Of course not."

The captain had to come up with something quick, before Octavia orders them to their demise.

"Back at Melanin, you said the troops are loyal to no one else but me. Right now, are the former Melanin prison guards are still loyal to me and no one else?"

"Yes."

"Good, then tell everyone to meet up back in Melanin prison tonight once they are off duty."

"Understood, i'll get too it."

As Claire went off, the captain turned to Lynn.

Lynn was a low ranking Octoling, in fact the captain hadn't really spoken to her until that incident with the red Inkling.

She was a good soldier, always following orders and trusting her superiors.

A good soldier wasn't what Octo Valley needed.

"Lynn."

"Uhh, yes ma'am?" Lynn didn't expect the captain to know the name of a low ranked Octarian like her.

"You were taught to follow orders and to trust in the word of your superiors. However today I want you to reconsider that. What do you think of Acting Leader Octavia?"

"She is a strong leader who is loyal to the cause."

"That's what they tell you to say, what do you really think?"

"To be honest I don't know what to think, why does that matter?"

"It's important that you learn to have your own views to make choices for yourself in the near future."

"I'm a trooper third class, what I think doesn't matter, shouldn't I be doing what I'm told to do?"

"Following orders or not is a choice you make, you'll understand later at Melanin."

Now that they were a good distance away, from Octavia's office, the captain couldn't hold in her rage any further.

If Octavia couldn't lead any better then someone else would need to take command.

The captain turned to look at Octavia's office far down the hallway.

"My last chance? Hah! you fool, that was yours."

She then made a motion telling Lynn to follow her, the two left Nautilus shortly after.

* * *

**Victoria's apartment, Octo Valley**

Was it night time now? Inker couldn't tell, all he knew is that they had been in Octo Valley for too long now.

Victoria mentioned the Octarians having a good sense of time, Inker could tell cause it seemed like every single Octarian was asleep by now.

Under the cover of the darkness Inker and Kal creeped up to Victoria's apartment, luckily it was on the first floor.

Inker knocked on the door, then he and Kal looked around to make sure no other Octarian had seen them.

The Octarians were used to getting up and going to sleep earlier than the Inklings, so there was a long wait, after a minute had passed Inker knocked again only a bit louder this time...

This time he could hear footsteps, someone was approaching the door.

"Hel-"

Violet answered the door, still in her pyjamas she then immediately shut the upon seeing Inker.

"Violet? Is Victoria there?" Inker said quietly, hoping not to wake up any other Octarians.

"Umm n-no, shes uhh still at Nautilus." Violet stammered

"But i'm right here? Who is it?" came Victoria's voice.

"N-no one important, just a salesman!"

"Don't be silly, what kind of salesman comes this late at night?"

Victoria opened that door, Inker could see Violet standing far away, she was probably still scared.

"What are you doing here?" Victoria whispered, she peeked over Inker and saw Kal standing there too. "Kal as well? Come in quickly!"

Inker and Kal quickly entered Victoria's apartment and Victoria shut the door.

"You promised me there would be no more Inklings coming here! Why are there two now?" Violet said, her voice quivering a bit.

"I didn't tell them to come here, just go to bed."

Kal in the meantime, looked around Victoria's apartment.

It was the first time Kalus had been inside any Octarian's home, Victoria mentioned having to live with someone else to pay off the rent, so Kal expected it to a somewhat larger place.

Also what was with the yellowish white walls with patches of unpainted dry wall? The place probably hadn't been repainted in years.

There was also a lack of space, the living room, kitchen and dining room were basically one room.

"Why are you two here? Were you unable to rescue the last Inkling?" Victoria asked

"We already rescued her, Agent 1 and 2 should have taken her back to Inkopolis by now." Inker replied

"Then why are the two of you here? Wait where did that Neon girl go? Don't tell me you had casualties."

"We almost did." Kal muttered

"Neon's fine, she is back in Inkopolis too, she probably couldn't wait any longer and wanted to play Turf Wars again."

'_Someone like her plays Turf Wars, not surprising in the least.'_ Victoria still had no idea the Inklings could respawn.

"Anyways, we came here because it turns out that Octavia wasn't setting a trap for us, she was setting a trap for you."

Victoria tilted her head "Huh? How does that work?"

"Apparently, when I was rescuing Kal, I got to Melanin much sooner than expected, so she put Lila in that specific place, and only told the soldiers at Nautilus base to see if I would show up, If did it would mean that somebody in Nautilus told me. Bottom line is, they know someone's been leaking information, you need to leave Octo Valley as soon as possible."

"You didn't give them my name did you?"

"Of course not."

"Then i'll be fine."

"No you won't!" Kal suddenly cut in

"Sorry, that was a bit loud, anyways, you won't be safe forever, there is an Octarian saucer flying about breaking into homes and accusing people, it won't be long until they reach you."

"Oh that, they are probably just checking homes at random, besides as long as you aren't here, there is nothing in my apartment that could be used as evidence, I have already thrown out the bowl and spoon Inker used the last time he was here, and have wiped the whole clean of any finger and footprints, though i'll probably have to do that again tomorrow." Victoria said while looking at Inker and Kal's footwear, which were obviously not from Octo Valley.

"It would still be best if you left Octo Valley though."

"And where else could I go? Inkopolis? I'd cause another panic, besides I don't want to leave Octo Valley yet."

"Why not."

"Everything and everyone i've known is here besides you guys of course, also it would be unfair if I got to live in Inkopolis while everyone else lived here."

Victoria still didn't want to leave Octo Valley

"Umm, if you don't want to leave, maybe just spend the night somewhere else?"

"What good would that do?"

"I'm just saying maybe leave for a while and come back after the Octarian army stops searching for you."

"No, that would only make me seem more suspicious."

"Well you were the one Octoling who had been to Inkopolis before, they'd suspect you either way."

"That's true." Victoria couldn't deny that she was the most suspect Octoling, after all she was brought back to Octo Valley by Agent 3 and the entire New Squidbeak Splatoon, it would only be a matter of time before they came looking for her.

"Maybe I could visit Octo Canyon? Actually no, the reserve army is stationed near there, aside from Inkopolis i'm not sure where else I could go, the Deepsea Metro is too dangerous and blocked off…"

At least Victoria was giving it some serious thought

"What if you were just visiting your family for a while?"

"No." Victoria instantly refused

"Why not, that way you can stay in Octo Valley and when the army comes looking for you you'd be somewhere else."

"Not going to work."

"Okay look, no matter what happens are you sure you don't want to give your folks a chance?"

"You don't know, how many Octarians have said that to me before."

"I can imagine, do you know that while I was at Melanin, a few guards were willing to put everything aside to protect what was left of their families."

Victoria cut Kal off

"Let me guess you are about to say "family is everything in Octo Valley" yeah I know I've heard it so many times in the past."

"Why won't you give yours a chance then?"

"You think I haven't?! Ever since I could talk, every Octoling I meet says "ohh your so lucky! Your mother survived giving birth to you." and then going on about how they wish they could have seen their mother's face, or about all the good times they had while their family was still whole. I wanted to know what that felt like, but ever since I was a child they never once cared about me. Everytime I needed help with anything they'd tell me to learn how to do it by myself, everytime I did anything to impress them they'd only be disappointed. Lucky to know both parents? Pfft, I couldn't stand either one of them."

Kal could see why she'd hate them so much.

Also was there something strange mixed in there?

"Wait, what did they mean by "your mother survived giving birth"?"

"Oh that? Octarian biology, the female usually dies or something, yadda yadda I don't know, go ask someone who understands Octarian biology like Violet. Bottom line is that no matter how hard I try to connect with them, my mother and father and a bunch of cold hearted….."

As Victoria was complaining, Inker noticed Violet peeking around the corner.

Seems like she couldn't sleep with all the racket, or maybe it was because he was still here.

"Victoria." Kal stopped Victoria's rant

"What?"

"Just go see them now."

"What's the point? I've told you they don't care about me at all."

"You should give them one last chance, they didn't seem all that bad when we talked to them, besides, you're a wanted Octarian now, if things go wrong you may never get to see them again."

"Good."

Kal sighed

"I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, but the way your parents treat you is just an act."

"Huh?" Victoria was surprised, she had never even considered that before.

"Listen I can't begin to understand why they'd do that, so go see them now before leaving Octo Valley, they could explain better than I ever could."

"Fine I guess i'll pay them one last visit... hopefully you are right."


	15. Happy Reunion

**Holter household, Octo valley**

Unlike Inker and Kal, Victoria could move freely through the city, however she still stuck with them as they snuck their way to Victoria's old home.

Victoria knew where they kept the spare key, so she entered without knocking.

She walked upstairs to the dining room, with Kal and Inker behind, soon she saw both her parents, casually sitting around the table.

There was food and sets of cutlery laid out on the table, the candles on the candleholder were lit as well as if they hadn't had time to eat yet, or they were waiting for someone.

When Maria noticed Victoria's arrival she spoke in the same tone as last time.

"Oh it's just you…."

Hearing that opening statement, Victoria turned to leave, while Kal and Inker brought their palms to their foreheads

"...Is what you expected me to say right? Well not today!" Maria said with a laugh

"What is the meaning of this?" Victoria asked, she had never heard her mother laugh at anything unless it was to mock her.

"It's been three years since you left, isn't it about time we had a talk?"

"A talk? What, about your great past accomplishments? About Dad's academic success? About what a disappointment I am compared to you?"

"A disappointment? Whatever gave you that impression?"

"Probably every word you've ever spoken."

"Don't be that way Victoria, how could we possibly be disappointed in you?"

Victoria's face was full of shock at this last statement

Her mouth twitched, as if she was about to smile.

"Who are you and what did you do to my mother?"

"Hahaha! A sense of humor! Good! I was worried you'd grow dull!"

"Better, but ma wouldn't laugh like that."

"Ohh stop joking around, our family's been divided for how long now? Shouldn't you be a bit more serious."

"If our family is divided, that's your fault."

"I agree it definitely is."

"Once again, who are you?"

"I'm your mother of course!"

"Then why are you so cheerful?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Do you know how hard it was to act all mean and cold to you all these years? Finally a great weight is about to be lifted off my shoulders!"

"Hard for you?! And what act!? Why the hell are you acting so different today!?"

'_Easy Victoria'_ Kal wanted to say, but he and Inker felt it was best not to do anything, they just stood by and watched the exchange between Victoria and her mother.

"Look we have a lot to say" Robert said "We know you can't stay in Octo Valley anymore, So before you leave, could you spare some time for your old folks?"

Still unable to understand the sudden change in attitude Victoria accepted and sat down with her family around the dining table.

"I'll go get some air." Inker said

"I'll go too" Kal and Inker left the Octolings to themselves.

"Hey don't get spotted alright!" Victoria called out to them.

She turned to her parents now

"Alright, first off, what the heck is all this about an act? Kal mentioned it while convincing me to come, so you should start by explaining that."

"Straight to the point huh?" Robert replied "well alright, I guess you deserve to know by now."

Maria was the one to begin explaining

"I thought it would be best if you didn't get close to us, you see when I was young, I was lucky enough to know both my parents, I also had two younger sisters and a brother, we all got along extremely well, we talked, ate, played and laughed together, it was all great….."

"I didn't come for your backstory."

"Please just listen, you'll understand soon."

Maria was struggling to retell the events of the past.

"As the oldest sibling I was the first to find a job with the Octarian army, I used my break days often to go see my family. One day we were on our way home from a trip to an amusement park, we were hungry so we stopped at a local restaurant to eat but then….."

Maria couldn't continue, so Robert took over.

"There was an accident, a train carrying 80 cars of crude oil derailed at 120 km/h, the resulting explosion vaporized the restaurant along with three other nearby buildings, dozens more were burned down later."

Maria looked down as if fighting back tears.

"We felt tremors from the train, we thought that maybe it was an earthquake, I ran outside because I thought it would be safer there, I thought they'd be right behind me….."

Robert continued

"At that time I already knew your mother, the two of us had been dating for a while, when she called me and told me what happened I could tell she was devastated."

Victoria could guess why they were so cold to her now.

"Let me guess, you were worried that if something like that was to happen to the two of you, i'd feel the same? That was why you refused to acknowledge me?!"

"This kind of stuff happens too often nowadays, we also felt that if we let you do everything on your own, you'd be able to do anything without any help at all, that last part was his idea." Maria said

"How do I know this isn't a bunch of nonsense you just made up tonight?"

Robert put his hand up "Victoria please. I know we always acted that way towards you so we should expect the be treated as such, but it was hard for us too, could you try and forgive us?"

"You want me to forgive you now? I spent years trying to talk to you without being insulted or mocked! Now you expected me to forgive you on a whim!?"

"I know you're angry, but please, you know how hard it was to hide our smiles when we saw what you've become, what you've accomplished?"

"What have I actually accomplished? I got lost in Inkopolis, I had to be brought back by Inklings, and now i'm leaking information to them, What part of that is worth praising?"

"You became an Octarian soldier, you made a living without our help and you aren't blindly following orders from some high ranking officer. That is worth praising."

"But that's nothing impressive, I'm just doing what's normal."

"You don't need to do something extraordinary, you're our precious daughter. As long as you are safe and happy then we are happy too."

"You say that now, yet for the past sixteen years you've only made me miserable."

"It's the same for us you know, I loved my family, I wished that you could experience something similar, but I was also afraid that someday this old house would bury us, then you'd be devastated." Maria said

Robert nodded, "When your mother lost her whole family, she was down for days, she even when so far as to consider joining them. Normally nobody cares if someone dies in Octo Valley unless they are related, had I not been there, you mother would have had no one to comfort her then she probably wouldn't be here today."

Maria continued "We had planned to tell you this after you had found someone special, that way even if we lost our lives, you would have someone to go to."

"Wait, so why did you choose to tell me this now? Don't tell you you couldn't go on acting like a cold hearted sea witch."

"Well, you can't stay here anymore right? I heard from Agent 3 that the Octarian army is after you, I thought you'd never forgive us, but the Inklings pointed out that this may be the last time we see each other, so I want to ask you one more time, before you leave Octo Valley, can you please forgive us?"

With their explanation done, Maria and Robert anxiously waited for Victoria's answer.

For some reason, there were bits of moisture forming under Victoria's eyes, she didn't understand why.

Could it be that she was envious of how other Octarians enjoyed being with family and wished that she could experience the same thing?

"Ma, Pa, you have no idea how long i've been waiting for this."

"You forgive us?"

"Yes."

With that, Victoria lept forth and embraced her family in a group hug, they stayed that way even as they heard Kal and Inker walking up the stairs.

"You guys didn't just stand outside did you?" Victoria's voice was a bit muffled.

"Of course not, we waited downstairs." Inker replied

"Don't tell me you two were eavesdropping on us."

"We weren't"

The three Octolings finally let go of each other, all of them had a few tears on their cheeks and they all looked happy, happy that for first time they had come together.

"Well then we better get going." Kal said as he and Inker turned to leave.

"No need, come stay a bit, it's thanks to you that our family is back together." Maria offered

"We should probably get back to Inkopolis."

"Come on, nobody knows you're here so it will be fine!" Even Victoria cheerfully suggested they stay.

'_I don't recall ever seeing Victoria that happy before.'_ Kal thought

"Well if you insist I guess I could stay a bit, after all there's something I wanted to ask." Inker said

"Hmm? What is it?"

Inker looked at Maria

"When we came here the first time, you said that fighting as a part of the Octarian army is "merely doing what you think is right, even if someday you find out you were in the wrong." does that mean you know why the Octarians are fighting with us?"

"Oh I did say that, well yes, but it's a secret that only the Elite Octolings know, we aren't allowed to tell any other Octarian."

"But we aren't-"

"Yes I know, just playing with ya, you helped us reunite our family so it wouldn't hurt to tell you. You see the reason the Great Turf Wars started so suddenly was because."

"Great Turf Wars? It goes all the way back to that time?"

"Yes, did you know that Octavio and Cuttlefish were best friends as one point?"

"Actually I do, I found a old sunken scroll during one of my missions, it said that the Inklings and Octarians had amicable relations until sea levels rose. It's the reason why I'm trying to find a way to make peace with Octo Valley, it's also the reason why we decided to bring Victoria back to Octo Valley without any drama."

"Ahh, well do you know why Cuttlefish and Octavio started fighting?"

"I don't know, Cap'n Cuttlefish never talks about it, and of course if I ask Octavio he'd just threaten to fry me into squid rings or something along those lines."

"Well then let me tell you, Octavio and Cuttlefish both had a part in starting the war, you see the Inklings of Inkopolis and the Octarians of Octopolis actually stayed friendly with each other after the sea levels rose….."

As Maria talked to Inker, Robert walked over to a dusty shelf and brought back an old album.

"Is that our family album?" Victoria asked

"Yes, the very same one you tried to destroy when you left us."

"... Sorry about that."

"No need to apologise, it was only natural that you act that way, given how we treated you. By the way, we haven't had dinner yet, would you like to join us?" He asked Kal and Victoria

"I already ate." Victoria replied

"Umm if it's okay I would like some, I mean well, I haven't been back to Inkopolis since yesterday so I'm kinda hungry."

Robert gestured at an empty plate and seat.

"Go ahead, you're our guest today."

As Kal started eating, Victoria and her father sat down and started flipping through the album together, Kal looked over as well.

There were all sorts of pictures, but…..

"How long ago was this?" Kal wondered

"Six years."

The Victoria in the album was young and not fully grown, her hands were still tentacle shaped, and her skin had the same colour as her tentacles.

Robert flipped a few pages.

The Victoria in the pictures were now a fully developed Octoling, but…..

'_Huh?'_ Kal thought upon seeing the next page '_Why does Victoria, look sad or angry in every picture?'_

There was no more pages after that.

"Well that's all, you didn't want anything to do with us after that."

"You can't blame me can you? Don't worry, I may need to leave Octo Valley, but I promise i'll find a way to come back someday." Victoria said, hugging her father and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I'll look forward to it."

With that Robert set the album down.

Inker was still busying listening to Maria telling what she knew about Octavio and Cuttlefish.

"Since Octavio was born to be the future king of Octopolis he lived a sheltered life, he had no one to talk to except the guards. Then there was Cuttlefish, he and two of his friends lived carefree lives together, playing around without a care in the world, Cuttlefish wanted to be a pop idol, so he spent his time writing songs for himself. One day his friends were teasing him, tossing around Cuttlefish's songbook, at some point that book flew into Octavio's palace.

Octavio's bodyguards wouldn't let anyone inside but Cuttlefish didn't want to lose all his hard work, so he snuck inside to retrieve it himself, that's how to two met."

"What? Cuttlefish ran into Octavio after breaking in to his palace?"

"Not really, he was caught shortly after entering the palace grounds, Octavio was curious as to why the guards were shouting and came out to find Cuttlefish surrounded by the tips of half a dozen Octobrushes. I don't know the exact details, since this story is pieced together from a dozen eyewitnesses, but apparently, Octavio was more interested in music than politics, he read Cuttlefish's songbook before handing it back, he must have liked Cuttlefish's lyrics cause a few days later the guards found out that not only had Octavio been sneaking out to see Cuttlefish, but the two had started a band together."

"That's the first time I ever heard of that! What were they called?"

"Don't ask me, I wasn't born back then. At that time, the sea levels already rose, and both Inklings and Octolings found themselves in need of land, with Octavio running away from his duties to make music things weren't going too well. Apparently Octavio noticed how music seemed to move and control people, so he asked Cuttlefish if they could make a song that would numb out the feelings of anger to hopefully settle things down between the Inklings and Octolings. Cuttlefish however was against it, he wanted music to be something people enjoyed, not a tool for international relations."

"That doesn't sound like the Cuttlefish I know…"

"Really? Well what happened next might be the reason, Cuttlefish had no idea how important the public's opinion was to a ruler like Octavio, but Octavio was angry that Cuttlefish wouldn't help him ease the tensions between the two races, he must have felt bad, because he tried to make it up to him by spreading the rumor of Octavio's anger numbing music in Inkopolis, since he didn't think it was a bad idea. Of course this Cuttlefish was young and naive, he thought the Inklings would be okay with such a thing instead Inkopolis' public opinion instantly turned against Octavio and Octopolis, however Octopolis didn't think it was a bad idea, the two races had opposing views, which made things worse. The band that Cuttlefish and Octavio started was shouted down as well, tensions rose higher than ever as Inkling protesters gathered to denounce Prince Octavio for using what they called "mind control", Cuttlefish then left the band to save himself from the backlash, without ever telling Octavio what he was really planning to do. Octavio must have thought Cuttlefish wanted to ruin him, because after that Octavio started using music not to numb out anger, but to amplify it on both sides. It wasn't long until the Octopolis army plugged in the Great Octoweapons and declared war."

"Now hold on a second, you said the Octarian army was in the wrong, but this story makes it sound like Cuttlefish is at fault!"

"Well, he did play a part in it, but it wasn't an excuse for Octavio to force two whole races into war, the young Octavio was hot tempered and chose to start a war rather than try and clear up the misunderstandings, in fact to this day he still uses music to keep Octarians from trusting Inklings. Besides, this is only one side of the story and its not in great detail either, only Octavio and Cuttlefish would know the full story."

Robert called out to Maria. "Honey, come and eat, the food is getting cold."

Maria walked over and joined the others at the dining table.

Inker, who could not hide the fact that he hadn't eaten for a day sat with Kal on the opposite side of the Victoria's family.

Victoria didn't eat, but she talked about her recent time in the army with her parents, who for once, weren't looking down on her.

The late candlelit dinner was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

Victoria, Maria and Robert were all happy.

It was the first time Kal had ever seen Victoria that happy.

"Sky, are you there?" Kal whispered into his headset

"Yep, i'm not going anywhere."

"Are you seeing this?"

"Yeah, they are all together again, how sweet."

"Could you maybe take a picture from Inker's Hero Suit camera?"

"Hmm? Well yeah I could, why?"

"Nothing, I just thought that Victoria would like a souvenir of this day, after all she'll be hiding somewhere soon, none of us will see her again for some time."

"... Done, by the way, I know Neon teases you about this all the time, but you really do care a lot for Victoria."

"You need to stop hanging out with Neon so much."

"Well you and Inker are in Octo Valley more often nowadays."

"It's not like I asked to be squidnapped."

'_Vrrrt vrrrt'_

"Oh that's me." Someone was calling Victoria at this time?

Victoria left the dining room to answer.

"Hello?"

"Victoria? Thank goodness you are alright, why haven't you came back yet?"

"Sorry for making you worry Violet, but I think i'll spend the night here."

"Wait really? You finally got things straightened with your family?"

"Yeah, hard to believe right?"

"Yeah… Anyways um, you should probably be careful, some Elite Octolings just stormed a building nearby."

"Don't worry about that, they have no idea who to even look for."

"Yeah okay, you should probably leave Octo Valley soon though, come back i'll help you pack your things."

"If I leave Octo Valley now it would only make me look more suspicious, look if you are so worried, i'll just stay with my parents for now, just don't talk about what I did and everything will be fine."

"Okay, umm, well at last come back and get a few things."

"Sure, i'll do that later."

Suddenly the lights went out again.

If Maria and Robert hadn't lit candles, the room would have been plunged into darkness.

Like before Inker and Kal shot up and glanced around frantically, still unused to such a phenomenon.

"Again?" Inker wondered

"This sometimes happens several times a week, don't worry, we already had a long blackout recently, this one probably won't last long." Maria replied

Victoria hung up and went over to Inker.

"Could you do me a favor, my roommate Violet seems very nervous thanks to those damn Elites making a ruckus. Can you go back to my apartment and make sure the Elites don't get anywhere near her?"

"Wait really? What about all the Octarians singing in the streets?"

"Well it's pretty late now, most Octarians should be asleep, besides you can travel by roof, like before."

"If they see my ink, they'll probably come after me."

"I'm sure you can handle it, I mean you were able to beat me back in Inkopolis easily, i'm sure you can handle them."

"Well okay I guess. Sky, guide me back to Victoria apartment again."

"Okay!"

Inker left after waving goodbye, quickly swimming away towards Victoria's apartment.

Victoria in the meantime, sat back down and started talking with her family again.

To her it was the best day ever, she always wished to find out what it was like to have a caring family, and tonight she got that wish.

Kal smiled at the scene before him, knowing he make a good decision to bring these Octolings together.

* * *

**Melanin prison, Octo Valley**

Dozens of Octolings and Octotroopers gathered in the now unused prison.

They weren't sure why they were here, nor why their captain had asked them to come, but orders are orders; leave the thinking to those capable and obey their commands.

They had gathered in main cell block, so that everyone could see and hear their captain speak. At this point everyone wanted to know why had they been called here?

The captain of the guard stood in the center of the room, surrounded by her subordinates.

"Before I explain what I plan to do, I want all of you to know, what happens to you from here on out is your choice, not mine."

The Octolings and Octotroopers looked at each other confused, they had never been given a choice in any matter before, so this was new to them.

"Acting Leader Octavia has ordered that we prepare for a full frontal assault on Inkopolis Plaza the moment she gives the order, now i'm sure most of you have heard of how heavily populated and heavily defended Inkopolis is, Inkopolis Plaza is the most populated area of Inkopolis, so any attack there would likely be met with extreme force."

Mixed reactions arose from the troops, some thought attacking Inkopolis was exactly what they'd been waiting for, others were worried, if the Inkopolis Plaza was as dangerous as the captain described, a single splatoon wouldn't last long.

"Assaulting Inkopolis like that would be suicide, I won't order you to do it, but Octavia thinks otherwise, if any of you agree with her and wishes to attack Inkopolis directly, please leave now."

The troops exchanged glances, they weren't sure what to do. Should they follow the Acting Leader, or the captain they had served under and trusted?

Nobody moved, they were either confused on how to proceed, or determined to follow their captain and not Acting Leader Octavia.

The captain smiled, looks like she had more support than she thought.

"Alright then, before we continue I want to make sure you know that in order to avoid being sent to our deaths we must relieve Acting Leader Octavia of her position before she gives the order to move out. What we are about to get into here is high treason, but know that we are doing it for the good of Octo Valley."

At the mention of "high treason" the troops started whispering to each other, expressing their doubts and concerns.

"Should we be here?"

"What's going on?"

"Why is the captain telling us this?"

"Is this some sort of rebellion?"

"What if we get caught?"

"What if someone snitches?"

Once again, the captain gave a choice.

"All of you stayed, but I'm sure some of you are having second thoughts now, if you don't want to participate, i'll send you to Octo Canyon for the moment, that way you won't be tried if we fail."

Once again the block went silent, nobody made a move, nobody chose to leave, nobody spoke.

"Have all of you decided to stay, regardless of the consequences should we fail?"

"..."

There had never been an uprising in Octo Valley before.

In fact there had never been a traitor in Octo Valley until recently.

What was going on? When Octavio was here nobody questioned each other.

The soldiers we not sure what to do, after all they had never been told to make a decision before, now all of a sudden they are given such a hard choice: Go to Inkopolis and possibly be splatted by an overwhelming amount of enemies, or attempt to overthrow Acting Leader Octavia and possibly be splatted for treason against the valley.

"I'm in." Claire's voice broke the silence.

Her choice was the catalyst needed to set things in motion.

"I'm in"

"Me too."

"We could get splatted either way, let's do this."

In the end every single Melanin prison guard chose to side with the captain.

'_Good, now Octo Valley might have a chance, if we can get rid of that incompetent Acting Leader'_

"Alright, now that you've decided to continue I can start explaining what we shall do:

There is a protocol which states that In a state of emergency, such as an enemy invasion, Octo Valley becoming uninhabitable, or the assassination of a large number of high ranking Octarians, the reserve army stationed near Octo Canyon is to evacuate everyone to Octo Canyon, which has already been prepared to sustain Octarian life.

We can use this to our advantage, if we find a way to either eliminate, or fake the elimination of Acting Leader Octavia, we can get the reserve army to evacuate the valley.

The Inklings would not expect us to attack from anywhere other than Inkopolis Plaza, so we will have the element of surprise when we move in from Octo Canyon."

That last part reassured the soldiers that they would not be getting friendly with the accursed Inklings, it also made them more determined to succeed, overthrowing Octavia meant saving themselves from a suicide mission, and putting them in a better place for an assault on Inkopolis.

"You will not speak of this anywhere outside Melanin, I will gather you all again when I have determined how to proceed. Dismissed."

With that, the Melanin prison guards started leaving, one by one.

"Claire!" Lynn called out as she found Claire amongst the crowd.

"Hmm? What's up?"

"Did you know about this?"

"How could I possibly have known?"

"But how could you decide to go against the Acting Leader so easily?"

"I don't know, maybe it's cause I've served under the captain for so long, so I trust her judgement more than that of anyone else."

"Oh."

"Well that, and because nobody else was going to say anything unless someone spoke up."

"Okay. Umm, the captain told me something about making your own choices instead of repeating what your superiors want you to say, is this what she meant?"

"Once again, why would I know? I'm just the captain's aide."

Lynn shook her head "What's going to happen now? Are we not all traitors? What if somebody says something to save themselves?"

"Do you feel like you were forced into agreeing with the captain?" Claire replied

"Ummm, I don't know, everyone else agreed so I just kinda went along."

Claire raised a finger.

"That, is what the captain meant."

"What?"

"You need to make your own choice, do you want to stick with us, or do you want to go and rat us out? If you are just going to stand around uncertain and blindly follow the masses you'd be of no use to either side."

Lynn nodded

"By the way, in case you haven't noticed, Octo Valley just got divided in two, there is our group and Octavia's, it's time to choose Lynn, who will you side with?" Claire continued

"I-I don't know."

"Well you should make that choice soon, for me i'm with my captain, Octavia may run Octo Valley, but she will be nothing once Octavio returns, but the captain, she wants what's best for us, that is what I believe, after all, how many Octarians are so highly respected to the point where they are referred to by rank instead of name?"

Now that Claire mentioned it, Lynn couldn't recall anyone ever addressing the captain by name, Octavia on the other hand told the people to refer to her as Acting Leader, yet she still hears some Octarians forget her title.

"Besides, she just showed that she was willing to disobey orders if it meant keeping us alive. Well, that's my view of things, you should come up with yours soon, I know for a fact that most of us will follow the captain to the ends of the earth."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm good at reading people remember? Why do you think i'm the captain's aide-de-camp? Not everyone agreed to follow just because I said I would. Anyways, if you are still uncertain who to follow, then you had better decide soon."

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Inker hid in his ink as he saw the Octarian saucer fly by, it was heading in the opposite direction of Victoria's apartment.

It also didn't seem to notice the trail of blue ink on the rooftops.

With that he let out a sigh of relief.

When he reached Victoria's apartment, the saucer was nowhere close.

"Sky do you know where the saucer is?"

"No, the power isn't back on yet, I can't see any other camera but yours."

"Well alright, get ready to find it as soon as the power comes on, Maria said that it should happen soon since they already had a long blackout recently."

"Roger."

'_Why do people say roger?'_ Inker wondered

In the meantime he stood on an eight story apartment building, if the saucer came back here, he would have to get its attention.

'_Hmm?'_ Inker noticed something strange

There was already dark magenta ink on the ground near the apartment.

Could the Elites have already come here?

'_Come to think of it, how could the saucer miss that long trail of ink I left?'_

Inker had a bad feeling about this, he hopped down and went inside the building.

There wasn't any dark magenta ink inside, but he still had to be sure nothing bad happened.

Inker knocked on the door of the room that Victoria and Violet shared.

Violet answered it like before, slowly opening the door and showing only half her face.

"Why are you here again?"

"Just making sure everything is alright."

"Oh everything is fine, no need to stay here, umm please be quiet, you might wake our neighbours, they should be asleep by now."

"Yeah I heard, all the Octarians should be asleep right? Why aren't you?"

"Umm, i'm just worried, yeah i'm too nervous to sleep."

"Why is that? And what are you hiding behind the door?"

"Shh quiet, i'm not hiding anything, see for yourself."

Violet's voice showed hints of fear, Inker knew she was still somewhat afraid of him, but something seemed off, he went inside, there was nothing behind the door.

Although Violet was pushing against it for some reason.

"Umm, is everything alright?" Inker asked

"Yes everything is alright." Violet slowly shut the door and walked away from it

'_Is she trying to draw attention away from the door?'_

Inker took a closer look, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it, but as soon as he stepped closer he felt something under his foot.

There were screws and a few bits of wood on the ground.

On a second glance, the door's hinges weren't screwed on.

'_I see, so she was holding the door in place.'_

"Violet, what's going on?"

"N-nothing, umm, could you tell Victoria to come here quickly?"

Violet was standing in front of a coffee table, holding her hands in front, she was forcing a smile, but Inker could see her mouth twitching.

In other words, she looked as if she was acting innocent to hide something.

'_Was she twiddling her thumbs? I know she's afraid of me, but this is really weird.'_

Inker tried to see if she was hiding something behind her, but everytime he tried to walk around, she would move.

'_Okay something is definitely up_'

"Violet." Inker said in a deep and serious tone.

"Y-yes?" Violet was getting more and more nervous by the minute

"I'll ask you again, what's going on? Why is the door broken? Why do you look so nervous? What are you hiding?"

Slowly a tear rolled down Violet's face, she dropped to her knees.

"I'm sorry!" she couldn't stay calm anymore, not when she was alone with this guy, who looked absolutely terrifying in her eyes.

"What? What happened?"

"I'm sorry! They came in here so suddenly, accusing me of treason and all that, I didn't have a choice! Please don't hurt me!"

Inker could guess who "they" were, in fact it was probably them who broke down the door, and now that Violet wasn't standing anymore he could see that there was a pile of shattered vases, chipped wood and ripped paper on the ground.

Inker could easily guess what happened.

"What have you done….?"

"I'm sorry, I was trying to get Victoria to come, and leave you to, ahh no I mean- I'm sorry!"

Inker didn't listen to Violet any longer, he had to get back to Victoria and the others!

Inker bolted out the door, he didn't care if anyone saw him now, he ran and swam as fast as he could, while yelling into his headset.

"Kal! Kal you need to get everyone out of there now!"

* * *

**Holter household, Octo Valley**

"What? Why? What's going on?"

"The Elites have already been to Victoria's apartment, Violet must have told them everything."

At that moment the noise of a low flying Octarian saucer could be heard.

Maria and Robert quickly got up.

"Come quickly!"

They both dragged Kal and Victoria downstairs.

"Hey stop! What are you doing!" Kal probably thought they were turning him over.

"If they are following standard protocol, they'll surround the house and enter from separate ways, luckily there is another way out." Maria said as she and Robert pushed aside an old bookshelf, revealing a small staircase behind it.

"What's this?" Victoria had never seen it before.

"When I was in the army I took things very seriously just like you did, I thought it would make sense to have an escape route in case any enemy managed to fight their way to Octo Valley, how ironic that you'll be using it to get away my fellow Elite Octolings, haha."

Even in such a time Maria still managed to laugh.

"Kalus, Victoria, this will take you outside of the Undercity, once you're out, run and don't look back. Oh and don't forget this."

Robert handed Victoria their family album.

"Hey, I'm not leaving you behind! I might have done so when I was younger, but not today!" Victoria didn't want to leave.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine! Just go!"

"Come on, we need to go!" Kal said, pulling on Victoria's arm.

He didn't want to be caught again, not after barely going a week after being rescued.

"Okay i'm coming! Hey mom, dad, you better not be lying to me again!"

"Of course not, that's behind us."

They could hear the Octarian saucer land outside.

"Go quickly!"

Victoria and Kal ran, as soon as they were out of sight, Robert and Maria pushed the bookshelf back to its original position.

They looked at each other.

"Well that's goodbye, shame we had to part on a lie again." Robert pointed out.

"Honey, I know we planned for this but, I can handle myself, you can still go with them if you want."

"No, remember what I said when you lost your family? I promised i'd stay with you forever and I'm holding true to that promise."

Maria smiled, she really made the right choice marrying this guy.

"Alright then, here we go…..."

"BLAM!"

With a loud bang, the door was reduced to smithereens by a team of Elites, followed by the sound of shattering glass as a second team came in through the sliding glass door at the back.

Maria and Robert were nowhere to be seen on the first floor, however...

"Odd, the ground seems wet."

"Is it water or something else? Whatever cover it up!"

The Elites shot ink everywhere turning the entire first floor dark magenta.

"Floor's clear! Move up!"

The Elites regrouped are went up the stairway to see Maria and Robert sitting casually at the dinner table.

The two took note of them but didn't say anything.

The Elites kept running around inking every room.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

After checking every room in the house and finding no trace of Inklings or Victoria, the Elites turn their attention to Maria and Robert.

"Where is your daughter?"

"Victoria? She doesn't visit anymore." Robert replied "You should probably start cleaning the mess you've made."

"Don't lie to us, we know she was here, we got a reliable source telling us that she came to visit you with two Inklings just hours ago!"

"My, aren't you being rude for a bunch of uninvited guests, if Victoria isn't here there's nothing we can do about it."

The lead Elite gestured at two other Elites

"Take them away, for questioning."

Their weapons wouldn't work on another Octarian, so instead they had to rely on force.

Maria however, flipped from her chair, landing a powerful kick on one Elite and tossing a plate at the one moving towards Robert.

After that Maria got into a fighting stance, with the fingers remaining on her right hand, she gestured at the Elites to bring it on.

"Raising a fist against Elite Octolings is a crime, one that will be added to treason against the state if you don't tell us where your daughter is."

"Don't think you can bully everyone around just cause you got seaweed in your head." Maria replied

"We have full authority and may do whatever we see fit, if you continue to resist we will use force to bring you and your husband in for questioning."

"Try it, I took all my skills with me when I left the army."

"So i've heard, former first lieutenant Maria Holter, you had quite the number of accomplishments before you left, but there's only one of you, that schoolteacher you married won't do much, and we are all Elites, we all had the same training as you."

"Really? Well you've done your homework, you seem to know everything." Robert replied, getting up from his seat and joining Maria on the opposite side of the room.

They faced off against the ten Elites who had invaded their home.

There was nothing in between them but the dining table, that was all they needed.

"Surely you can't be so stupid as to try and take us on with your bare fists." the lead Elite said, almost laughing at the pitiful bit of resistance Maria and Robert could offer. "Oh well, it doesn't matter whether you talk or not, your daughter is a criminal, who has helped Inklings act against us, we will find her and execute her with or without your cooperation. Don't think you can escape, we know how you'll fight, and we have weapons."

"That you do" Maria replied "But there's two things you don't know, number one: you are standing in oil."

The Elites showed a confused expression, some looked down at their feet, they didn't know what Maria was getting at, sure the ground was wet, but who cared if they were standing in oil, ink, or water? it wouldn't matter would it?

"Number two." Maria and Robert glanced at each other before speaking at the same time.

"We'll do anything, to protect our daughter."

With that the two of them flipped the dining table, sending all the food, plates, and burning candles towards the Elites…...

* * *

**Outskirts of the Undercity, Octo Valley**

There was a small hatch in the ground just outside the Undercity, over the years it had been covered in dirt and sand.

Kal and Victoria used all their might to get it open.

"Ahhh finally some fresh air… it's not as fresh as Inkopolis, but way better than being underground in an already underground city."

While Kal was glad to make it out, Victoria kept looking back with a worried expression on her face.

"They should be here by now…."

"Victoria we should go, remember they told us to run, let's go find Inker and get away from here."

"Wait, please just wait a little bit longer."

They sat around for a few more minutes.

'_Come to think of it, the way they reacted so fast and led us to this escape route, it was almost as if they had planned for this to happen._' Kal wondered

Victoria got up

"Something's wrong."

And dashed in the direction of the Undercity

"Hey wait up!"

Kal chased after Victoria who started running back to the Undercity.

It wasn't long before Victoria froze and Kal caught up.

Victoria's parents lived on the outskirts of the Undercity so their home was visible from outside the city, where Kal and Victoria were standing..

And where their home was supposed to be, was a huge fire, sending a column of smoke into the sky…

"Aaaah aaahh." Victoria was speechless, she dropped the family album she was holding unable to process the scene in front of her.

Suddenly she tried to run towards the Undercity.

Kal grabbed Victoria's hand before she could run.

"Let go of me Kal!"

"No I can't, it's too dangerous!"

"Let me go I have to help them!"

"Victoria they are gone, you can't go back or everything they've done will go to waste!"

"No! No they are still there! They can't be gone! Not yet!"

The fire was spreading, and Octarians all over the place started coming outside to see what was happening.

If this kept up, someone would surely spot them.

Victoria kept trying to run while Kal kept pulling her back.

Victoria was managing to pull Kal along, she was slowly making their way back to the Undercity.

"Victoria, you can't go back!"

"No I must! I have to go back!"

"Snap out of it!"

Kal slapped Victoria hard across the face, making her stop.

Tears started streaming down her face.

Kal looked at his hand, it was almost as if it had moved on its own.

"Victoria…. I'm sorry, but your parents are gone."

Victoria didn't respond.

She was too busy watching the fire.

The orange glow reflected in her green eyes, that cheerful atmosphere she had experienced for the first time ever faded away with the embers and smoke.

Did this really happen? Did she really open up to her parents only to lose them an hour later?

Victoria couldn't bear to watch, but she couldn't look away either.

Family was everything in Octo Valley, that was what everyone told her, she heard of road trips, picnics and vacations being the best with your family by your side. She wanted to experience it for herself, but now all chances of that happening was gone…

Victoria felt her face, it was still hurting after Kal slapped her.

She knew he didn't mean any harm, it was for her own good.

"Victoria! Victoria! We need to get out of here, now. Victoria!? Can you hear me!?"

Victoria tried her best to regain her senses, she was in a trance, as if hypnotized by the flame which took away her reason for being in Octo Valley.

"Yes…." Victoria finally managed to speak again.

"Come on we need to go. You need to stay safe, for your parents sake."

Victoria didn't budge

Kal couldn't imagine what she could be going through, whatever it was, he hoped he would never go through the same thing.

The least he could do now was comfort her, he took Victoria's hand.

"I'm sorry…But we really need to get going." was all he could think of, he wasn't sure what he was apologizing for, but they needed to get away from here quickly, so Kal retrieved the album Victoria had dropped, then he gently took her hand and pulled her away.

Without looking away from the flames, she followed, leaving the dream of a happy family to burn.

* * *

A/N: Well that's the end of chapter 15, I really wish I had introduced Maria and Robert earlier in the story, sure they were mentioned before in the first few chapters, but we never saw their characters in detail until recently, oh well, I'll be sure to let them make one last appearance soon.

* * *

**OCs from part 3: Retaliation (chapters 11-15)**

Inklings:

Inker: Blue Inkling boy, the New Squidbeak Splatoon's star agent, after missing out on the Early Bird vs Night Owl Splatfest due to his injuries, he joined his friends to rescue Lila from Octo valley, meeting Victoria's parents in the process. He later joined Kal in warning Victoria, once the Octarian Army caught on that someone was leaking information to them. Inker is a great fighter, and is willing to put himself in harm's way if it means helping his friends, especially when they are in Octo Valley. (also known as Agent 3)

Kalus: Red Inkling boy, Inker's best friend, he was on team Night Owl during the splatfest, then later he joined Inker and Neon in rescuing Lila. He later refused to go back to Inkopolis once they had found out that the Octarian Army was on to Victoria and left to warn her. Like Inker, Kalus is very kind and looks out for others, however he lacks Inker's combat potential.

Neon: Green Inkling girl, a friend of Inker, Kalus and Sky, she excitedly participated in the Splatfest, but switched to an unfamiliar Scoped E-Liter 3k for some reason, as a result she lost her initial matches but got used to it later. Later she joined Inker and Kal in rescuing Lila, this time however, she seemed to have learned from past mistakes and saved Kal from nearly being splatted by Octosnipers. For some reason, Neon then returned to Inkopolis instead of staying with Kal and Inker as they left to warn Victoria. Neon is a happy go lucky kind of Inkling, she stays positive and loves turf wars and fighting more than anything else, she also enjoys teasing her friends.

Sky: Cyan Inkling boy, a friend of Inker, Kal and Neon, and also the youngest of the bunch, he was on the losing side during the splatfest. Sky wanted to help his friends rescue Lila, but he wasn't confident in his fighting ability, so instead, Inker had Cap'n Cuttlefish teach him how to be their mission control, watching over them from cameras and guiding them through the large Undercity. Sky is self aware and knows his limits, as such he usually tries to avoid fighting, if he is unsure about anything, he prefers to leave it to someone else instead of risking failure. Sky always thinks before acting, to a point where he tends to overthink things and acts too late, which is why he decided he was unfit for fighting alongside the more skilled Inklings like Inker and Neon.

Lila: Purple Inkling girl, Laven's little sister, she was used by the Octavia to get the attention of whoever was leaking information to Inkopolis. While Octavia's plan might have worked, Lila was still rescued and reunited with her family.

Laven: Purple Inkling boy, Lila's older brother, he blamed himself for Lila's squidnapping and confined himself to his home. However Lila was recently rescued from Octo Valley, upon hearing of this, Laven and his family rushed to Lila's side.

Arcus: Black Inkling man, Arcus Hilgendorf is Inkopolis' minister of defense, his parents were part of Cap'n Cuttlefish's first Squidbeak Splatoon, they were likely close, since Arcus calls Cap'n Cuttlefish "uncle Craig". Arcus helps Cuttlefish keep the New Squidbeak Splatoon out of the public eye, however with Lila's return, Arcus is facing the possibility of reforming the Inkopolis army, as more and more Inklings begin to see Octo Valley as a threat again.

Octarians:

Victoria: Octoling, a generic Octoling soldier who had gotten friendly with Agent 3 and his friends. Victoria was tricked into telling Inker and the others about Lila, as a result, the Octarian army are now aware that they had a mole in their ranks. She was on very bad terms with her parents until recently, thanks to Kal bring them together one last time before she leaves Octo Valley. Victoria always seems to be calm and serious, she always seems to hide both her intentions and feelings from others, she acts friendly with the other Octarian soldiers to not seem suspicious, yet sees them as fools for being easily swayed by Octavia's promise of revenge against the Inklings.

Octavia: Elite Octoling, currently the highest ranking Octarian in Octo Valley, Octavia claims to be simply acting as a backup leader for Octavio, yet seems to not care about her former leader at all. Octavia does not do a very good job of leading the Octarian army, though she does manage to accomplish a few things, such as discovering the presence of a traitor in their ranks. Octavia appears to be very self centered, often blaming her failures on her subordinates, she also seems to get careless very easily once she gains the upper hand.

The captain of the guard: Elite Octoling, a well respected captain in the Octarian army. Seeing potential in Callie and Sky's weapon of choice, the captain made her own Rollers from the old Octobrushes, however her first use of the weapon did not go well, as a result, Octavia ordered her to scrap all the Octorollers she had made, further deepening her dislike for Octavia. When Octavia ordered her to prepare her troops for a mission to Inkopolis against impossible odds, the captain declined only to be verbally disciplined by Octavia, this was the last straw for her, now the captain seems to be planning a coup.

Violet: Purple Octoling, Victoria's roommate, due to being constantly fed Octarian propaganda, she sees the Inklings as a scary bunch. Violet was unfortunate enough to be home when the Elite Octolings came breaking into the homes of random Octarian soldiers, so she told them about Victoria's hidden agenda. Despite Victoria constantly assuring her that the rumors around Agent 3 were just rumors, she still seems to be afraid of him.

Maria: Former Elite Octoling, Victoria's mother and Robert's wife, Maria acted cold and mean when Victoria first introduced her, but revealed it to be an act as soon as Victoria left. Maria doesn't seem to mind associating with Inklings, she had a cold personality when Victoria was nearby, but is really a positive and cheerful being, like Neon. Maria cares for Victoria deeply to a point where she is willing to give herself up to ensure her well being. According to her, she has fought Inklings, Salmonids and even Sanitized Octarians, earning herself a large scar on her face and the loss of two fingers.

Robert: male Octoling, Victoria's father and Maria's husband, Robert didn't say a word to Victoria, and was more worried about the presence of Inklings than Maria. However that didn't stop him from talking with them. Like Maria, Robert is prepared to do anything to protect Victoria.

Claire: Octoling, the captain of the guard's camp adjutant, she relays information to her commanding officer and briefs her on current events. Claire recently returned from Octo Canyon, only to hear some strange stories circulating Nautilus base. Later she and the other Melanin prison guards regrouped at Melanin prison for a meeting with their captain, who was seeking their aid in staging a coup. Claire, having full confidence in her commanding officer's judgement, was the first to choose to help her, followed by every other Octarian in her splatoon. Claire is a calm and collected soldier with much love for her family and Octo Valley, however she is not blindly loyal to Octavia nor Octavio. Claire also can read people's expressions to tell whether they are lying or not.

Lynn: Octoling, a soldier serving under the same captain as Claire. Lynn is as loyal as they come and will gladly follow orders. Lynn recently returned from Octo Canyon with Claire, she spoke with Victoria from a brief moment, asking her about recent events, before leaving to see the captain. When the captain decided to stage a coup, Lynn followed because everyone else did. Lynn does not hold herself in high regard, believing that her opinions should not matter as she is of low rank, she is also used to following orders to a point where she cannot effectively make her own decisions when given the opportunity, instead choosing to side with whoever her fellow soldiers side with, something that both the captain, and Claire seem to want her to avoid.


	16. Gone

**Part 4: The enemy of my enemy (chapters 16-20)**

_With her crimes confirmed and no reason to stay, Victoria plans to leave Octo Valley for good. Meanwhile a conspiracy brews in the shadows of Octo Valley, as the captain of the guard, along with Claire, Lynn and the rest of their splatoon, plan to remove Octavia from power._

* * *

**Holter family household, Octo Valley**

Flames rose in every direction

In one half of the dining room, lay what was once a team of Elite Octolings.

In the other, stood Maria and Robert.

They had planned for this to happen, as soon as Agent 3 left they knew it wouldn't be long before the Octarian army came for their daughter.

If they did, they would have to do everything they could to keep her safe.

Therefore, they had planned ahead, while Kal and Agent 3 convinced Victoria to visit, they had gathered every bit of flammable liquid they could find, as soon as Victoria was out, they had hastily poured it over every inch of the house on their way back to the dining room.

If the Elites came after them, they would all go down together.

That was exactly what happened, the Elites might have covered the house with Ink, but ink wouldn't stop things from burning.

The only place that wasn't flammable was the dining room, where Maria and Robert stood.

There was no way they could leave anyways, even if they did escape, the fire would have attracted lots of attention, they'd be caught within the hour.

Plus the room was completely blocked off now, there was nothing else to do, but see their final moments.

Maria sighed

"After sixteen years, we finally got to tell Victoria, a shame it had to end like this."

Both she and Robert were sweating from the heat, their eyes irritated by the rising smoke, but they still stayed as calm as ever.

They righted the table, which was starting to catch fire, and sat back down for the last time.

"Well this is it" Robert said, "Too bad we couldn't live a bit longer."

"Yeah, real shame, haha. I wish I could see what kind of guy our daughter would fall in love with."

"I wish we could see her on her wedding day, wearing a white dress, as happy as can be."

"I wish we could have held our grandchildren in our arms, telling them stories while rocking them to sleep."

"Oh man, we should stop, otherwise the regrets will start piling up..."

The two looked at each other, they both looked sad, as they have just lost something important.

"Do you think we made a mistake, reuniting right before this happened?" Robert asked

"No… Even if it was just for a moment, I'm glad we were able to sit down and have dinner like a family."

"You still miss your folks don't you."

"Of course I do, and now that we are about to join them, Victoria will miss us too, history repeats itself doesn't it?"

"Yes, hopefully Victoria won't feel devastated like you did."

"She will, but it's fine, she's found some great friends, they might be Inklings, but they are different from the citizens of Octo Valley, they'll look after her for us, especially Kalus."

The fire kept spreading, getting closer to them with every passing second, it wouldn't be long now.

Robert smiled "Well then, at least we can say our family lives on with Victoria."

"Yes, are you okay with this? You were the one who convinced me to leave the army since you wanted to avoid any danger, yet here i've dragged you into this." Maria said

"Of course."

"Really? So you have no second thoughts? You're satisfied with the life you've had?"

"Definitely, after all I married you, what else could I have possibly asked for?"

The two shared one last kiss as the roof collapsed in a storm of embers, burying the two Octolings…

* * *

**Victoria's apartment, Octo valley**

'_Victoria'_

'_When I first met her, I was afraid of her because she was an Octoling. Later I hated her because she used me to try and steal the Great Zapfish. What do I think of her now?'_

'_She's always been calm, concealing her emotions and looking for the upper hand. But when something happens and she can't do that anymore, she'll lose control.'_

'_Last time that happened, she just yelled at Inker and I, but that was nothing compared to what she's doing now.' Kal thought as he watched the scene in front of him._

"YOU IDIOT!"

"...ahh…...i'm…sorry…...please….stop….I can't…..help….."

In a fit of rage, Victoria had stormed back to her apartment despite Kal and Inker telling her it was too risky, as soon as she arrived she started strangling her roommate Violet.

Since Victoria, was a soldier and Violet was a paramedic, Violet was physically weaker than Victoria, she couldn't break free of Victoria's grasp.

Victoria didn't want to stop either, she held Violet by the neck and squeezed, even managing to lift her off the ground, Violet struggled but couldn't do anything.

For a moment Kal watch Victoria throttle her roommate, then he decided to do something.

He put a hand on Victoria's shoulder

"Victoria, you should stop, Violet is turning blue."

With a thud, Victoria let go, letting poor Violet fall to the ground. Violet didn't get back up, she started rubbing her neck, and was gasping for breath.

Victoria looked down at her roommate, she clenched her fists, she really wanted to pick her up and beat her to the ground again.

"ARGH!"

Instead she just yelled and threw a punch right over Violet's head, her fist smashed straight through the drywall.

Violet was more afraid of Victoria in her current condition than anyone else.

"I'm sorry" Violet said, still gasping for breath

"You're sorry!? How about you say that to my mother and father! I'll send you to them right now!"

"Victoria! Stop!" Kal grabbed Victoria from behind as she tried to pounce on Violet again.

"Let go of me Kal!" Victoria started prying Kal's arms away.

'_That hurts, Victoria is strong'_

Inker joined in as well, helping Kal pull Victoria away from the defenseless Violet.

Violet was still apologizing over and over.

"I'm sorry, really, I didn't know they'd…."

"You didn't know what!? How many times have I told you they have ZERO evidence! The whole point of breaking in to random houses was to scare someone into talking! Are you so stupid that you couldn't even see that!? Because of you my parents are dead! Their deaths are on you! Along with anyone else who dies today!"

"I'm sorry!"

"I'll kill you!"

"Hey! Be quiet down there!" someone shouted from the floor above them.

"Sorry!" Kal yelled on instinct.

"Hear that? We are going to attract attention if you keep shouting at this hour."

Finally Victoria stopped struggling.

What was there left for her to do now? The army was after her, and Violet would be no help.

Who else did she know? Her fellow soldiers?

No, the soldiers she knew at Nautilus would not be of any help either, they were probably being fed lies about how she was a traitor who committed a final act of terrorism by starting the fire.

Besides, nobody would be stupid enough to help a traitor.

Only one thing to do now.

Since Victoria was no longer struggling, Inker and Kal let go of her, Victoria looked around.

Images of the various places in Octo Valley flashed in her mind, the school she went to, the parks and arcades of the Undercity, the Octarian training camp, Nautilus base, the lairs she patrolled...

_'Will I miss these places?'_

Victoria turn to Kal and Inker.

"Alright Kal, take me to Inkopolis."

"What?!" every shouted in unison

"You heard me, I'm going to Inkopolis, I'm done with Octo Valley, who cares if it falls apart, I'm not coming back here again!"

"Wait, hold on, why Inkopolis so sudden?"

"You are the one who said I could head back to Inkopolis whenever I wanted right? Well i'm doing that now, I don't have anywhere else to go, so i'm going to Inkopolis."

"Umm okay."

"I'll pack your things for you." Violet said

"No, you can shut up, I'll just take whatever I can carry with me, you can go pawn off everything else to pay off your rent, it's a pile of junk compared to Inkopolis anyways."

Violet slowly got up again

"Oh ummm thanks, and i'm sorry, I really am."

Victoria turned and glared at her.

"Eep'

"Violet, for your own safety you should probably leave us for now." Inker suggested

Violet wasted no time in leaving, she hurried out of Victoria's sight.

Victoria on the other hand left to her room. A few moments later she returned, now wearing the Satin jacket and Tentacles Helmet from before.

Kal handed her the family album she had dropped earlier.

"Do you want to bring this along too?"

"Yes, thanks for picking it up."

"No problem."

Inker peeked outside, making sure no one else was nearby.

"Sky, we are coming back now, Victoria is coming with us, so let Cap'n Cuttlefish know."

The three then left for Inkopolis, they had nothing left to do in Octo Valley now.

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Violet watched as Victoria left with Inker and Kal.

She had never seen Victoria so angry before, also Octarians die every day, this was common knowledge.

Violet couldn't understand why Victoria was so angry, but she didn't feel innocent either.

She started to clean up the apartment, which had been messed up by the Elites and then made worse when an angry Victoria came back.

Violet didn't spend much time alone before she was called to work.

The fire that had started in the outskirts of town was being put out, Violet and several other Octarians stood by in case anyone needed medical attention.

The fire had spread to a few nearby buildings as well, some Octarians were hurt, but they were alive and were treated by Violet and her co-workers.

Apparently military personnel had been involved, because a few Octarian soldiers stood nearby as well.

When the fire was out, there was a brief idle period as the responders waited for the area to cool down.

Following that, the soldiers and medical personnel went through the rubble, looking for any possible survivors.

There were none, all they found were bodies, burnt to a crisp.

Normally the soldiers were used to seeing other living beings get splatted, so the sight of a burnt body was new to them and absolutely revolting.

Violet saw a few soldiers throw up,

A few passerby watching were also greatly disturbed with the sight of the bodies and held their hands over their mouths.

But for Violet and a those who need to respond to accidents like this every day, the sight was nothing new.

"Sorry, but we'll have to leave this to you guys for now." an Octoling trooper told Violet and the other paramedics.

The soldiers left the medical personnel to retrieve the bodies.

Alot of them wore goggles and armor, Violet assumed they were the same Elites who broke into her apartment earlier.

The last two bodies were further apart from the rest.

They must have been holding on to each other, because the two were burnt together and could not easily be separated.

Violet could easily guess who they were

'_Their deaths are on you! Along with anyone else who dies today!'_

Victoria's words echoed in her head.

'_I'm sorry, Mr and Mrs Holter, I was scared, this is all my fault….'_

Over the past two years, Violet had seen many deaths, but this was the first time she was involved is causing one.

Well not just one, but several.

The longer she stood here the guiltier she felt.

'_Why? this kind of stuff happens all the time, why does it feel like i'm the culprit here? Is__ there maybe a way I could make up for this?why am I even thinking that?'_

"Alright what have we got?" a soldier asked once Violet was the bodies

"Twelve casualties, eleven female, one male."

"The ones that were wearing armor were part of the army, bring their bodies to Nautilus, we will perform their last rites, the other two were terrorists, so just toss away their bodies somewhere outside the city."

"Okay."

'_Terrorists? But Victoria's parents seemed like good Octarians….'_

Violet was not sure what happened, but she didn't want to risk getting on the bad side of the Octarian army.

So she and the other Octolings started loading up the bodies, the Octarian army brought over coffins for the Elites, as for Maria and Robert's bodies, they were to be stuffed into a bag to be disposed of as garbage.

Violet was helping the others load the Elite Octolings into their caskets.

"Hold up! Before you nail em shut we need their goggles for our investigation."

Even though they weren't doing any work, the soldiers were still ordering the others around.

'_What would they need goggles for?' _Violet wondered.

As the other medics started removing the burnt goggles from the deceased Elites, Violet made a quick decision.

The soldiers were all looking away because they couldn't stand the sight of their burnt comrades, so Violet quickly pocketed one pair of goggles from a deceased Elite.

'_If these are important, maybe there could be something on it that could prove that Victoria's parents were innocent.'_

She looked back at the bodybag containing Robert and Maria's remains.

Normally nobody would care if someone died, it was completely natural in Octo valley, yet today Violet felt different.

She felt sorry for the two innocent Octolings who were going to be tossed away and left to rot.

Violet and the other medical Octarians retrieved the goggles from the fallen Elites, then they nailed their caskets and loaded them into military transports.

After that Violet volunteered to get rid of the "terrorists" bodies.

She took a chunk of concrete from the destroyed house, then drove an ambulance to out of the undercity to an area where nobody ever visited.

There was no wildlife here either so she could leave the bag here without risk of them being preyed on, but that wasn't why she was here.

Without anyone else knowing, Violet started to dig, until she had a pit large enough for both Maria and Robert's bodies.

Violet felt that they deserved some kind of burial.

Using the chuck of concrete she had collected, Violet marked the final resting place of Maria and Robert Holter.

She still felt guilty that they had died, but at least now they weren't just tossed away and branded as terrorists.

Once she was finished, she stood by, giving the two a moment of silence.

'_What happened to you was my fault and mine alone I don't know why, but I've accepted it, nothing I do now can bring you back, but maybe, just maybe I could make up for my mistake.'_

Hopping back inside the ambulance, Violet looked back.

'_If I can obtain a casket, i'll come back and get you two out of that bodybag.'_

It was the least she could do to try and atone for her mistake.

* * *

**Kal' home, Inkopolis**

'click!'

"Hello?"

"Hi mom, its me Kalus."

"Hi Kal, its been a while, why are you calling all of a sudden?"

"No reason….. It's just that well, something terrible happened, one of my friends just lost their whole family and it kinda made me realise, you don't know how much you'd miss someone until they are actually gone."

"Oh my, what happened? I didn't hear anything on the news. Did something happen to Inker's family?"

"No not Inker, and you probably won't hear about it on the news either. Anyways I just felt like calling just so I could hear you again. Is dad home?"

"No he's at work, don't worry we'll be safe. What happened anyways? We usually watch your turf war matches when we have the time, but after the splatfest you just seemed to disappear."

"Oh about that, I was kinda busy with something else. Is it okay im I come by and visit sometime?"

"You really don't have to ask, just drop by whenever you feel like it, you are always welcome."

"Thanks, goodbye now."

"Goodbye, and stay safe dear!"

With that Kal hung up the phone.

He was back in Inkopolis now, surprisingly Cuttlefish didn't object to bringing Victoria back.

Kal yawned, he had gone two days without resting now.

Maybe it was time for a nap.

Victoria was sitting on the couch, staring at the family album on her lap, it wasn't even open, she just stared and was lost in thought.

"What's it like to have a family picnic?" Victoria muttered

"Hmm?"

"Or to have a family vacation? Or to just come home and talk about your day? What does that feel like? I'll never know."

Victoria stood up

"Oh well no use thinking about that now, what are you and Inker going to do about the Octarian army?"

"Victoria….."

"It's won't be long before they come again, I've memorized most of the Nautilus base's layout, so if you want to get rid of Octav-"

"Victoria, I know you usually like to stay calm and serious, but that doesn't work when you are crying."

Indeed, while Victoria might have been talking about more serious affairs, but she still couldn't stop the tears from trickling down her face.

"I'm fine, now is not the time to grieve."

"What are you talking about? Victoria, please don't try and hide everything, it's fine to grieve, to worry, to cry."

Kal edged closer to Victoria to comfort her, but as soon as he got closer Victoria embraced him and cried.

"Wahhh!"

"There there."

A moment later Victoria realized what she was doing, she let go of Kal and backed away out of embarrassment, leaving Kal alone in his living room.

'_What was that all about?'_

* * *

**Inkopolis plaza**

"Hiya!"

Neon, cheerful as always greeted her friends as they met in Inkopolis plaza

Inker, Kal and Sky however were not nearly as energetic as Neon.

Probably cause none of them got any sleep in the past two nights.

Neon who had returned home early, did not know what had happened, and was full of energy.

"Why are you all half asleep?" Neon said with a confused expression

"Neon, we just got back from Octo Valley a while ago." Inker told her

"Oh, why didn't you come back yesterday? Was it that hard to find Victoria?"

"No, we just got caught up in some unfortunate events."

"What happened? Did you get caught and have to fight your way out?!"

"Please don't say such things out loud in public."

"Oopsie, well what happened? Octolings? Those guys with snipers on a flying saucer? Or something like that giant stomping thing?"

"Nothing like that, we didn't get caught by the Octarian army."

"What happened then?"

Neither Kal nor Inker wanted to say what had happened.

So Neon turned to the last one, Sky.

"What happened anyways, I don't mind if its boring, I'm really curious now."

"Victoria had a family reunion before leaving."

"Oh that's great! Family reunions are the sweetest!"

"Yeah but that's where the good news ends, the Octarian army came in while Inker was away, Kal and Victoria got away, but her parents didn't make it."

"Oh? No worries, we'll go resc-"

"They are gone, when Kal and Victoria looked back at their house it was burning, they couldn't try and rescue them either because they'd risk getting spotted."

"Oh."

Inker spoke up "If only I realized earlier and made it back to their house, things would have gone differently."

Kal however also felt he was to blame "No, if I had just gotten Victoria to leave instead of forcing her into that reunion then they never would have came to the house."

"Hey don't feel down, it was neither of your guys' fault, come on let's have a game of Turf Wars to celebrate our return!"

Everyone looked at Neon

"What?"

"Sorry not today, I'm not in the mood for Turf Wars, besides I really don't think i'll be any good while half asleep." Inker said

Kal agreed "Me neither, and I also have something to do."

"I could play, but well, i'd be a burden."

"Forget it then, rest up and we'll play turf tomorrow!"

"We'll see." Kal said

"What do you mean we'll see?"

"Well things are different now, first off Victoria is staying with me for a moment, secondly I still want to become a diplomat sometime in the future."

"So Victoria's living with you now!? You must be real happy!"

"Oh shut up, Victoria just lost her family because her roommate ratted her out, she'll need someone, she's been holding back tears ever since we got back from Octo Valley, so tease all you want, I don't care."

"Whoa I was just playing around, no need to get so triggered. Look, since you are all tried from your trip to Octo Valley i'll just see you all tomorrow."

With that Neon left in the direction of Inkopolis tower.

"Is it just me or is Neon a bit different today?" Sky wondered

"What do you mean?"

"Normally she'd laugh and keep on joking around, why did she leave so quickly?"

"People change I guess, by the way, do you have that picture you took while we were in Octo Valley?"

"You'll have to ask Cuttlefish for that, I just took the picture and did nothing else with it."

"Oh okay."

* * *

**Octo Valley**

"Today on the Octo Valley news:

Flames rise from the Undercity as a group of treacherous Octolings commit an act of terrorism against the state.

Agent 3 defeated? Reports of the blue menace being splatted by brave Elite Octolings have been surfacing from Nautilus base.

The accident to death ratio in Octo Valley decreases as another load of power eggs are bought from the Salmonids…..."

The citizens of Octo Valley were fed several misleading stories that day.

The first of which concerned Victoria and her family, it was claimed that the whole family had been collaborating with the New Squidbeak Splatoon ever since the theft of the Great Zapfish by DJ Octavio and that the whole family perished in the fire which they had started in order to strike fear into the heart of Octo Valley.

The second claimed that while scouting out the lairs, Agent 3 was caught by a group of Elites who had been tracking him for days, after a brief fight Agent 3 was outnumbered and outgunned and finally splatted.

The rest were a bunch of other stories glorifying the actions of Octavia and the Octarian army.

While most of Octo Valley accepted what they heard as the truth there were a few who didn't

In one area, was Violet, who for the first time ever, questioned the legitimacy of the news once she had heard it claim Victoria had died with her parents.

If that was true she wouldn't have nearly been strangled to death earlier.

There was also Claire and Lynn, who did not believe Agent 3 was gone yet, no way could such a skilled and powerful opponent go down so easily.

Finally there was the captain of the Melanin prison guards.

Like Claire and Lynn, the captain didn't believe Agent 3 was truly defeated, but it was the story about the fire at the Holter household which caught her attention.

'_I doubt the whole story is true, but if Octavia has already found the mole then it won't be long before we are called to carry out our suicide mission.'_

With all her knowledge on the Octarian army's protocols and base layouts, she came up with a plan, one that would have to be carried out quickly if they are to avoid being sent on a mission with no chance of survival.

It was time to reassemble the Melanin prison guards, they were loyal to her and maybe Octavio, they would follow no one else.

As for the plan, it was simple enough, yet it required a few of the Octolings under her command to change their ink colour, after all, if they are to have a valid reason to move to Octo Canyon, they need to make it seem like Nautilus was no longer secure….

Like before, Octolings and Octotroopers arrived at Melanin prison as their captain had requested.

"Looks like everyone is here, good, i'll explain what we must do now." once again the captain stood in the middle of the block, surrounded by her subordinates.

"The room where the Elites hold their meetings is guarded by a few trustworthy Octolings on the verge of promotion, but that will not be too much of an issue, there is a vent connecting to the meeting room which can be used by Octolings if we stay in Octopus form, I will need a team of volunteers to go inside and eliminate the other Elites."

The captain knew exactly who would be the first to volunteer, Claire.

"Sorry Claire, but I have a different task for you, is there anyone else willing to go?"

It wasn't long before more Octolings stepped forward.

"Good that's everyone I need, the rest of you will have other tasks."

They couldn't just expect everything to go their way by assassinating Octavia.

First of was Claire's task

"As my adjutant, it is not unusual for you to call me away for an urgent matter, before or volunteers Splat bomb the room, I will need you to come in and call me away, incase Octavia sends someone to go with me, I will need you and a few other guards to actually fake an attack on Melanin prison."

Then there were other matters;

"After the deed is done, we would have to make sure everyone leaves Octo Valley as quickly as possible, someone would need to make contact with the garrison near Octo Canyon in advance and have them start bringing in saucers to evacuate the populace, they would also need someone to tip off Octo Valley news so that all the civilians are ready to leave."

"What about the guards outside the meeting room?"

"The meeting room has quite alot of soundproofing, noone inside can hear what is going on outside and vice versa, the Octolings guarding the room should be unable to hear the splat bombs go off inside. They should suspect nothing, however in the event that someone in the room survives and finds out who was really behind this, we would need to make sure they cannot make contact with the rest of Octo Valley.

The captain paused to consider how to divide her troops into the groups needed.

The majority of them would have to stay at Melanin or Nautilus, otherwise it would seem too suspicious, the rest would be divided into three groups with different tasks.

One to drop Splat Bombs through the vents, one to alert the reserve army and cut communications and one to fake the attack on Melanin.

"Well then, now all we need to do is wait."

'_Yes, wait. Wait for Octavia to give me that suicidal order again, I want one last reminder of how incompetent of a leader she was.'_


	17. Coup d'etat

**Kal's home, Inkopolis**

Since Kal hadn't slept for quite a while he didn't wake up until the sun was high, not exactly unusual since Inklings lived a carefree lifestyle and often didn't care when they got up.

Kal awoke to the familiar sight of his room, with all that had happened recently he was glad he could see this normal sight again.

When Kal entered the living room, Victoria was already awake, she sat on the couch in the living room, once again lost staring at the closed family album she had brought with her.

Kal wished he could do something to get VIctoria's mind off that.

"Good morning Victoria."

"Good morning, or should I say good afternoon? its already past twelve you know, you sure can sleep."

"Ahh well, Octo Valley really tired me out."

Kal turned to make himself breakfast, or lunch? Brunch.

As he tossed out an empty milk carton he noticed a wrapper with unfamiliar writing on it already in the trash.

Then it crossed his mind, what had Victoria been eating since she got here?

"Umm, what did you have this morning?"

In response, Victoria held up the bag she brought with her from Octo Valley.

"I brought my own rations from Octo Valley."

"Rations?"

"Yeah, stuff like oatmeal, jerky, hardtack, things that last pretty much forever."

Victoria tossed Kal some jerky.

It didn't look like any jerky Kal had seen before, curious he took a bite and immediately regretted it.

"Salty! Why is there so much salt on this? Actually isn't it dangerous to eat something like this?"

Victoria shrugged

"Is this what you normally eat in Octo Valley? Aren't you worried about getting hypertension or something?"

"Well no, this is what soldiers eat when they are away on missions for prolonged periods of time, it's easy to carry around and won't go bad for years to come."

Now curious as to the quality of "rations" Kal picked up Victoria's bag.

"Umm may I?"

"Sure"

Kal rummaged through the bag and pulled out a piece of hardtack, it sure looked like hardtack, and felt like it but...

"Why did you bring this along in the first place?" Kal said while tapping the hardtack.

"I didn't want to bother you any further by eating your food."

"What? Why are you worried about that? Last time you didn't.."

"Last time? Do you really want this to be a repeat of last time?"

"Yeah you're right, let's not make this a repeat of last time, but still.." Kal was now trying to split the hardtack in two, but it was so tough he couldn't break it no matter how hard he tried.

Victoria couldn't help but laugh a bit at Kal struggling with a piece of hardtack.

Kal brought the hardtack over to the kitchen counter and slammed it down as hard as he could.

'SLAM!'

The strangely tough hardtack still stayed in one piece.

"Why is this so tough? It feels like you can knock somebody out with this, is it even possible to eat such a thing?"

Suddenly Kal had an idea to get Victoria's mind off recent events.

"You know what, it's past noon anyways, put on your helmet, let's go out to eat!"

"Wait what? Isn't this a bit sudden?"

"What do you mean? You said you didn't want to eat the food I have right? But this is Inkopolis, a place of fine cuisine and you're here eating balls of salt and hardtack that are as tough are bricks? Besides you never really got a chance to really enjoy Inkopolis last time, so come on! I'll show you around."

"Wait! isn't there a lot of Inklings around at this time? Won't I risk getting spotted?"

"Don't worry, the helmet worked before, it will work now and if someone sees what's under it just pretend its a wig or some new hairstyle."

Since Kal was insisting they go out for something to eat, Victoria accepted. Kal knew this was a bit forceful but what other choice did he have? If he didn't do something she'd spend the next few days just sitting there with that same blank gaze. Luckily there was lots to do in Inkopolis Plaza alone, so there should be more than enough here to help her forget about the recent past.

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

"Well? do you have anything you want to try?" Kal asked as he and Victoria arrived in Inkopolis Plaza.

"Why are you asking me? Weren't you the one who wanted to come out here to eat?"

"Hey just asking, if you got nothing then i'll choose, there's this one place that has great sushi, did you have sushi in Octo Valley before?"

"Umm not really."

"Well then time to try something new, i'm sure you'll love it!"

Victoria followed closely behind Kal, constantly glancing around.

"Why are there so much Inklings heading into that tower?"

"That's Inkopolis' main attraction, Inkopolis tower, where Inklings can access the battle lobby for turf wars and other battle modes."

Of course, Victoria still didn't know about respawning, so she was taken aback by the sheer number of participants in what she thought was a gladiatorial death match.

'_Why are there so many Inklings taking part?'_

"Is it normal for that many Inklings to be there?"

"Yeah, everyone loves turf wars! I can show you Inkopolis tower later if you like."

"Oh no thanks, I think i'll stay away from anything combat oriented for now."

"Alright then.'

As Kal took Victoria to a sushi restaurant, Inker had also arrived in Inkopolis Plaza.

* * *

Inker and several other Inklings had their attention turned to the various T.V screens in Inkopolis plaza.

He was planning to join Neon in Inkopolis tower, but given recent events, he felt it would be wise not to miss out on anything.

From what he saw, he was glad he made the choice to watch the news.

"Once again, protesters outside government buildings are expressing their concerns with Inkopolis' security, reforming the army seems to be on everyone's minds here."

Although this didn't really concern him, it was important to know why Inklings were starting to call for a new Inkopolis army.

The answer was: the victims of the Octarians.

On screen, reporters Inker was not familiar with talked with a family of light purple Inklings.

"Mr and Mrs Fields, what are your thoughts on this movement."

As the screen zoomed in on two middle aged Inkling a subtitle appeared at the bottom of the screen which read: "Wister and Mauve Fields, parents of Octarian squidnapping victim."

"Well I really appreciate what they are doing, it's so heartwarming to see so many other Inklings stand up for this injustice. I really have no idea who thought Inkopolis was safe enough to go on without an army, but I do know that now is not the time to ignore what is happening, not when our loved ones can be taken away at anytime."

Inker could see what this was all about.

"You are aware of the consequences that would arise if Inkopolis went to war with Octo Valley."

"Of course, I'm not saying we should go to war, but that we should prepare for the worst, how can anyone ignore the fact that a dozen Inklings were taken by the Octarians? And at random too? Our daughter Lila was a good girl, she never hurt anyone, but the Octarians didn't care, they took her to Melanin and did awful things to her, scarred her, physically and emotionally…..."

'_Yep, as expected…..'_

Inker obviously never saw the Great Turf War with his own eyes, and he didn't want to either, the whole point of keeping both the New Squidbeak Splatoon and the actions of the Octarian army secret was to avoid starting another war.

Of course, it's hard to hide something when so many witnesses are involved and they weren't going to just leave them to their fate, they had no choice but to just hide the New Squidbeak Splatoon and let the ones they rescued reveal the Octarian army's actions.

But still, first Kal gets captured, then Vert starts suspecting them, then Victoria loses her family, now this, Inker really couldn't catch a break.

The news showed images of Inklings shouting, waving signs saying "Rearm Inkopolis!" and "Defend our homes!" while police officers in uniform stood around, forming a wall around the building and making sure nobody got violent, then there were more interviews.

"While most were rescued by detective Vert and his team, a few were less fortunate." one reporter said.

A picture of an orange Inkling showed up on screen.

"Bogs Mire, aged 20 was one of the first Inklings to be taken, he never made it out of Octo Valley…."

The screen cut to show several other Orange Inklings, holding and crying together.

"...his family, still healing from their loss, has not given us any comment."

Then a cut to the studio

"This is the only the second day since the interview of Lila Fields went viral and there has already been such a powerful reaction, so far all we have heard from the prime minister was this:"

"We cannot be so quick to judge anyone in our current situation. While my heart goes out to those who have suffered or perished in the recent events, it is still unclear what is really happening in Octo Valley. We do not know the motives of these squidnappings, nor if the Octarian army was even involved, all we know is that they were taken to Octo Valley, that does not mean the Octarians had to have been involved. For now we will attempt to re-establish diplomatic relations with the Octarians and hopefully we can find out the reason for these squidnappings without further violence."

"What a buncha bogus!" Inker heard someone say.

All around him, there were Inklings were voicing their discontent with the prime minister's decision, while others kept their opinions to themselves and moved on.

'_Wait, if they are going to re-establish relations with Octo Valley, does that mean they'll end up sending someone into Octo Valley? I should probably tell Cap'n.'_

As Inker left for Cuttlefish's manhole, someone else was skipping along.

* * *

Oblivious to what was going on, Neon was strolling by with her E-Liter in hand and ready for another game of turf wars.

She completely missed Inker and went on to Inkopolis tower, however on her way there something else caught her eye.

Sitting near the window in a restaurant was Kal and a helmeted individual.

There was only one cephalopod she knew who had to wear something like that.

At first she thought about dropping by and saying hi, but then as she got closer she started wondering why they were even there to begin with.

After all Kal did say she was really depressed, so shouldn't she be staying inside, alone for a while?

And why is Kal with her?

With her?

She used to joke about the two being in some sort of relationship but…

'_Was it true the whole time and I didn't know? What do I know when it comes to these things anyways?'_

Neon gasped and covered her mouth. Since that thought had crossed her mind, she couldn't get it out.

'_I have to find Inker and Sky, I have to tell everyone, wait no then i'll look like some weirdo spying on these two, no wait, I don't know what's really going on. Ahhhhh! but I want to talk about this so bad!'_

Unable to comprehend this, Neon left for Inkopolis tower at full speed.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

When Inker arrived, Cap'n Cuttlefish was talking with someone he hadn't seen before.

A formal looking Inkling, who appeared to be discussing something serious with Cap'n Cuttlefish.

Who was he, did he know about the New Squidbeak Splatoon?

"Ohho, Agent 3, just in time too."

'_Just in time?'_

"Arcus, this is Inker, Inker, Arcus."

Inker nodded towards Arcus "Hey how you doing?"

"I'm good, how are you." Arcus held out his hand for a handshake.

'_He's really formal? What is he, a businessman or something?' _Inker thought has he shook hands with Arcus.

Cuttlefish continued his introductions

"Arcus and I go way back, he's now the minister of national defense, as for Inker he's the one who retrieved the zapfish and captured Octavio, our star Agent; Agent 3."

'_This Inkling is the minister of national defense? That explains the formality. First the super fresh and influential Squid Sisters and now a politician? Cuttlefish sure has a lot of connections.'_ Inker thought.

Arcus in the meantime leaned over to Cuttlefish

"Isn't he a bit young?" Arcus whispered

"He may be the youngest but he's one of the freshest squids on the block, besides he's already proven himself before, i'm sure he can handle it."

It would appear that the two were discussing some sort of mission before Inker arrived.

Inker really didn't want to go back to Octo Valley so soon, he had some really close calls recently, but if someone like Arcus was here it must be urgent.

"What is it that you need me to do?" Inker asked, having heard them guessed that they were going to send him somewhere.

Cuttlefish looked at Arcus, since it was his request it would be best if he explained,

Arcus sighed and rubbed his eyebrows, he probably wasn't comfortable with sending someone as young as Inker to Octo Valley, or maybe his head just hurt.

"Well son, you know how all those Inklings are yelling at the prime minister for a new army? Well the prime minister isn't going anywhere near that idea, instead he thinks that it would be best if we sent somebody to talk with the Octarians."

"I don't think the Octarians are in any mood to talk to any of us."

"Exactly, that's what I thought too, but that's not stopping the prime minister from sending a delegation to Octo Valley to try and talk peacefully with the Octarians."

"So are you asking me to protect them or something?"

"No, the IPD can handle that, you are going to Melanin prison."

"Again? What for?"

"If Melanin prison is as bad as they say, the Octarians will be sure to keep us from seeing it."

"That's all? What about the Inklings heading for Octo Valley?'

"Just leave them to the IPD."

"If the Octarian army goes after them, they will be hopelessly outnumbered."

"I know that! But this is out of my control, I can't stop the delegates, nor give them any more protection! The least I can do now is determine whether or not rearming Inkopolis is the right thing to do."

Inker didn't like this, leaving a bunch of other Inklings to the Octarian army? Never a good idea.

And Arcus, did he want peace or war?

"Even if Melanin is a horrible place, that doesn't mean the Octarians are all that bad."

Once again, Arcus sighed and rubbed his eyebrows

"I know that too, look right now most of Inkopolis is in a frenzy, all that is on their mind is re-arm Inkopolis and take revenge, all we can do now is try to satisfy them, otherwise they'll start calling for the cabinet to step down and let another party take our position."

'_Step down? Cabinet?'_ Inker wasn't sure what Arcus was talking about, all he knew was that he was troubled over something.

He also noticed that Arcus was probably close to Cuttlefish, since he seems to address him as something else normally.

'_Well I guess I can trust him for now.'_

* * *

**Nautilus Base, Octo valley**

The captain walked through the hallways of Nautilus base, Claire following her on her right and another Octoling on her left.

Arriving at the meeting room, they were met with two other Octolings who saluted greeted the captain, before one of them opened the door.

As the captain entered the meeting room, Claire and the other Octoling went back the way they came as per usual.

So far nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

The captain joined many other Elites, who stood around a table in the meeting room.

They were her comrades in arms, Octolings she knew by name but addressed by rank, they would also to be splatted as soon as Claire returned.

Spread over the table were all sorts of things for planning their moves; a map of Inkopolis, a map of Octo Valley, little pieces that looked like pawns from a chess game, but were actually used to represent the various splatoons in the army.

There was one placed in Inkopolis plaza, alot of them in Octo Valley and some that weren't even on the board.

"Our spy has managed to herd large groups of Inklings together." one Elite Octoling told Octavia, while placing several markers down on the map of Inkopolis.

"The 401st 403rd and 404th splatoons are standing by for orders." Another Elite Octoling said, placing markers on Nautilus base.

"Good, well captain, are your troops prepared for the mission we discussed?" Octavia said

"Yes, they are ready to move, though the chances of our survival are still slim, I don't like this."

"I'm not asking you to like it, im asking you to do it."

"Yes ma'am, the 402nd splatoon will be ready to move as soon as you give the order."

"Good, moving on" Octavia turned to another Elite, "Lieutenant, we are entrusting base defense to your 405th splatoon."

"Understood."

"Colonel, how many Octostamps are still in working condition?"

"Before we get to that, there is something else tha…"

The captain drowned out the rest.

Octavia wasn't changing her plans, nor giving any sympathy to her and the troops she was about to sacrifice.

It wouldn't be long now, when Claire returns they'll leave for Melanin under the guise of responding to an attack.

Once she and Claire were in the clear, the recoloured volunteers hiding in the vents will toss splat bombs into the meeting room, the Elites inside are currently unarmed so they shouldn't be able to do much, the room was also small and soundproof, with nowhere to hide. Once all the Elites are gone they will sabotage the communications room in Nautilus just in case someone checks on the Elites. Finally they would call the reserve army from Melanin to start a mass evacuation. Once everyone is evacuated they would set up in Octo Canyon, and instead of diving face first into Inkopolis Plaza they would first find a weak spot and exploit it.

'_Alright then, first step; fake an attack on Melanin prison'_

* * *

**Melanin prison**

Inker had been here three times now.

By now he was used to it, and had gotten here much faster than the last few times.

Just like the last time they came here, Melanin was abandoned, the Octarians having no use for it since they had no more Inklings to hold captive.

He went to the cells, getting a good look at the place Kal was held before, as well as the boiling pit.

From the camera in the Hero Suit, Arcus and Cap'n Cuttlefish saw everything.

Inker continued moving through the halls not worried about anything that might be around the corner.

What he was worried about, was that Inkopolis delegation that Arcus said was going to Octo Valley.

'_I wonder what the Octarians will do to them. No I can't think about that, besides there is no guarantee they will hurt them, right?'_ Inker wanted to believe that, but seeing how their previous encounters with the Octarian army had been so hostile he knew for sure that something would go down.

'_It's almost as if the Octarians are trying to restart the war'_

A voice brought Inker back to his senses, someone was speaking.

That couldn't be, this place was supposed to be abandoned.

Could there still be something important left behind here?

"Cap'n, Defense minister, there is someone here."

Inker first heard Arcus

"You can just call me Arcus."

Then Cuttlefish

"Well what are you waiting for? Go take a look?"

Following the voice, Inker came to a stop around a corner, there were two Octolings here, what were they doing?

"Besides we don't have a choice now do we."

'_Don't have a choice?'_ Inker wondered

"If you put it that way sure i'd rather go with the captain's plan than attack Inkopolis plaza, its just this whole fake attack thing i'm concerned about. Isn't this a bit too far away from Inkopolis to be a target? Even if they knew we were keeping the Rollers here I doubt they'd actually come for them, considering how badly they performed."

"It doesn't really matter, all we need is a reason for the captain to leave Nautilus and Inkling attack is a pretty good reason regardless."

Arcus started speaking over the radio.

"Okay that's enough, head back now, I need to put the IPD on alert, and hopefully there is still time to get the delegation to turn back."

He could hear Arcus scramble to his feet and leave Cuttlefish.

'_Arcus might be satisfied, but I'm not, if the Octarians are starting to use Rollers, it won't be long before they start using things like Blasters and Sloshers.'_

"Well Agent 3? What are you waiting for?" Cap'n Cuttlefish asked as Inker did not start heading back to Inkopolis.

"Give me a moment Cap'n" Inker said.

Since the Octolings were staying in one place they were easy to avoid, Inker had no idea where they were keeping the Rollers so he just checked whatever room he could find.

An explosion caught Inker attention.

There was a loud bang, breaking the silence and startling Inker.

Running towards the source, Inker stumbled into a room full of weapons, namely Octobrushes and Rollers.

Someone had blown a huge hole in the wall, but they didn't damage anything else, Inker caught sight of that someone for a brief moment before they ran out the hole in the wall, all he saw was a streak of blue.

'_That can't be right, I've never seen a blue Octoling before. Besides why would Octolings blow up one of their own buildings?'_

Inker glanced out of the hole but it was dark, since no sunlight ever reached Octo valley, he couldn't see where the unknown creature had went.

He was confused, there shouldn't be anyone else here, so why was there two Octolings seemingly guarding nothing, and something blue that decided to break into Melanin?

'_Wait I almost forgot about the two Octolings.'_

They would definitely come running by, an explosion like that could easily be heard from anywhere in the prison.

Inker quickly covered as much ground as he could, if he had to fight his way out, he would need to be able to move around.

He was expecting to hear footsteps; the sound of two Octolings running by, instead he didn't hear them.

A moment passed with Inker holding the Hero up, aimed at the door, a moment later he switched to squid form and hid in his ink, still waiting for someone to come running.

Still nothing, Inker stood out and wondered why the Octolings weren't coming.

Oh well, he should probably figure out what to do with all these Rollers the Octarians were probably planning on using in the future.

Then finally the Octolings arrived, they didn't come running, instead they were calmly walking by as they entered the room, still chatting about something.

One of them went "Hmm?" as they saw Inker standing in the middle of the room.

Inker spun around and raised his weapon.

However one of the Octolings started talking.

"Hey now you're supposed to run away after setting off the"

The Octoling didn't finish her sentence, because she caught sight of the blue ink on the ground and froze.

She had probably assumed Inker was someone else before.

"Ahh you are!"

Both Octolings dropped their Octoshots, and started slowly backing away.

...before breaking into a sprint.

"The ghost of Agent 3 is here!"

Inker in the meantime, now stood alone once again in the room, more confused than ever.

"What?" was all he could say.

* * *

**Nautilus base**

One of the Octolings guarding the meeting room peeked inside.

"Captain! There's an urgent matter for you, regarding Melanin prison."

Expecting this, the captain stood up, saluted the rest of the Elite Octolings and turned to leave.

"Bowes, Boswell, Octav, Mckenna, you may as well go with her." Octavia suddenly said.

Four other Elites stood up and joined the captain as she was about to exit the room.

The captain looked at her with a confused expression.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"You think i'm trusting you to successfully assault Inkopolis? I know better than that, these four will aid you, add them to your current troops and move out as soon as you resolve whatever issue you have in Melanin."

The captain grit her teeth, but didn't say anything else and left.

Claire was waiting outside, and was surprised when the captain showed up with four other Elites by her side.

She wanted to ask what were they doing, but didn't instead she reported an attack on Melanin as they had planned.

As for the captain she nodded and kept walking, step one and two was to fake the attack and get her to leave the meeting room.

So far everything can go on according to plan but these four Elites around them were a problem, they wouldn't be able to discuss their coup with the others or they would be found out.

The captain would have to reconsider a few things

'_Step one was to fake an attack, step two was to leave the room and head for Melanin, step three is bomb the meeting room, step four is to jam Nautilus base's communications, step five; summon the reserve army. With these Elites paying close attention to us I can't check on the teams doing step three and four, I'll just have to proceed without them checking in.'_

Once they get to Melanin, her splatoon would be waiting there, then they would call the reserve army and aid them in evacuating Octo Valley.

So far everything was going well.

Along with Claire and the four other Elites, the captain boarded a saucer and flew off to Melanin.

Meanwhile Lynn was waiting near the communications room with several other Octolings.

She was still having doubts about this, what if they were caught? What if the Acting Leader knows they are coming? What if someone ratted them out?

Right now, both she and the others she was with still appeared to be regular Octoling soldiers, but they weren't using the regular dark magenta ink anymore, in fact the captain had chose to use the exact opposite, light green.

They were supposed to splat everyone in the communications room and tear up the equipment inside….

"I don't like this…" Lynn muttered

'_No Octarian had splatted another Octarian in the past century, what are we even doing?'_

She looked at her colleagues.

'_What do they think? Are we in the wrong here? What about Claire, why does she follow the captain so willingly? Come on, make a choice, make a choice, do I go along? Is there still time to turn back and alert the Acting leader? Should I alert them?'_

This uneasy feeling was felt by all her colleagues too, however none of them knew that they were all feeling the same thing.

So they went on with the plan.

Lynn and several other Octolings broke into the communications room, caught up in the heat of the moment, Lynn found herself willingly pulling the trigger on other Octarians. The group gunned down the Octotroopers and Octolings inside….

* * *

**Melanin prison**

The captain and the other four Elites gazed upon the ruined armory.

The hole in the wall was there as planned, but it seems like they took it a step too far and broke some of the Rollers as well.

No big deal, it's not like they couldn't make more.

The Octolings that were supposed to tell them they saw an Inkling break in were taking it a bit too far though.

"I'm telling you! The ghost of Agent 3 was here!" one of them said, appearing to have been shaken up by her encounter.

The second one looked equally spooked

"I saw him too! he was here! Bright yellow suit, Blue hair and blue ink, It had to be him!"

The captain wanted to remind her that they were supposed to see just an inkling, not Agent 3, after all that's why they had a third Octoling destroy the wall while disguised as one.

Still she had to give them credit, their acting was so good that it was fooling the other Elites.

They were discussing among themselves whether or not to believe the two.

The captain heard whispers of: "Agent 3 or not, we have to report this intrusion to the Acting Leader."

It wasn't long before the four Elites decided to contact Nautilus.

The captain wasn't worried, by now the meeting room should have been bombed, and the base's communications cut.

"No response, Nautilus has gone dark." one of the said "something must have happened."

"Perhaps we should go back."

"Our orders were to follow the captain to Inkopolis though."

The Elites seems troubled over what to do.

Since the captain needed to speak without the other Elites hearing, it would be best if they were sent away.

"Our goal is to clear a path for the rest of the army by gaining a foothold in Inkopolis Plaza, but that would be useless if we cannot contact them. We will hold off on attacking until we hear from Nautilus again, or until we find out what has happened at Nautilus." the captain declared

"If that's the case, someone should go back to Nautilus directly." one of the Elites suggested

"Yes that is true, Claire! Get everyone else ready, i'll be back as soon as I find out what's going on at Nautilus."

As quickly as she had arrived, the captain left Melanin in the same saucer, flying towards Nautilus, leaving behind the four Elites and the rest of her Splatoon.

An hour had passed before the captain returned.

By now, the entire splatoon was waiting, the captain stood infront of a legion of troops.

She had an expression of pain and sorrow on her face.

"There was an attack, Acting Leader Octavia and the other Elites are no more."

The others were expecting this, but the four Elites accompanying the captain were not, they hung their heads down, something like this was a huge shock to them.

The captain continued after a brief pause.

"If Nautilus could be breached like this, then Octo Valley is no longer safe, according to protocol we must now contact the reserve army and evacuate to Octo Canyon. From there we shall avenge what has transpired here today."


	18. Evacuations

**Staging point, Octo Canyon**

They gave their all for their race.

The hundreds of loyal Octarians who volunteered to wait, those who left their entire lives behind so that someday they could ensure their race's survival in a dark time.

They were the Octarian reserve army, who were the first to inhabit the repurposed Octo Canyon.

Ranks of various Octarians stood by as a messenger came running past, before stopping to hand piece of paper to the Elite Octoling, who was also their commanding officer.

The Elite's eyes opened wide in shock as she read the news, for a moment she stood in silence, in respect to those who had fallen.

A single tear made its way out of her eyes.

Octavio was recently defeated, but they weren't needed thanks to his second in command taking charge so quickly.

But now she was gone, along with most of the other high ranking Octarians.

Fellow soldiers whom she had known, gone.

Not only that, but Nautilus' communications were down, and the base was infiltrated by Inklings.

The Undercity was also in a deteriorating state.

Now was their time, time to show up and save the day.

The moment they were put on standby they were ready, they had done enough drills to know what would follow.

The Elite raised her head, and spoke to the entire reserve army.

"Octavio is imprisoned, as for Octavia, she has been splatted, along with the majority of the other Elite Octolings."

If it was any other Octarian hearing this news they would be deeply saddened, but the reserves were expecting this, for they wouldn't have been called unless something disastrous occured.

"Nautilus has been compromised, the kettles are powerless, and the undercity is no longer safe. We will go and save what we can of our culture and evacuate everyone to Octo Canyon. The Inklings who attacked Octo Valley will likely strike again, so be on your guard as you enter the undercity. Now move out! Prepare all the transports we have! We will not see our end so soon."

Every single member of the reserve army was eager and determined to finally do their duty, they followed orders without question.

A whole fleet of saucers flew out from Octo Canyon, ready to evacuate the entire Octarian population.

Not a single one of them ever considered the possibility that they were being deceived.

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Everyone watching the Octo Valley News Bulletin had gotten word of what was happening.

This part of Octo Valley was lost, everyone was to pack whatever they could carry and leave asap.

The reserve army was also flying in and out of the Undercity, transporting away groups of Octarians.

From the top floor of the Octo Valley News Bulletin building, the captain watched the various Octarians moving around, evacuating the city.

Everything had gone according to plan.

"Captain, the teams from Nautilus are back." Claire reported

"Have them switch back to the regular Octarian army colours, also I want to make sure that everything went accordingly."

"Of course, by the way, what should we do about the rest of Nautilus? The rest of the army is still there and we have no way of contacting them."

"That is of no concern, we'll head over and pickup the remainder of the army once the civilians have all been moved."

"Alright. By the way, congratulations captain, you've done it."

"We've done it, it took all of us to get this done right, now we will actually have a chance against the Inklings when they eventually come after us. When that day comes, we will be ready."

Claire left the captain to debrief the teams returning from Nautilus.

The captain had much to do now; oversee the evacuation, seize control of the military, set up bases in Octo Canyon….

It was now her time to rule, no more Octavia, no more enticing the Inklings to attack, no more reckless charges through the bottleneck that was the manhole to Inkopolis.

'_We had long embraced living underground, and that gives us an advantage, why lure Inklings to us when we should be the ones making the attacks, why attack from one place, when we can pop up anywhere from underneath Inkopolis? Octavia never would have considered this.'_

"Captain!" a voice called out to her.

It was the four Elites who Octavia had sent to accompany her to Inkopolis; three second lieutenants and a first lieutenant.

They were now the last Elite Octolings left, although keeping them nearby was a risk, there was nobody else to turn too.

"Evacuations are underway throughout Octo Valley, we estimate that it will take about a day to bring all of us to Octo Canyon."

"Then we wait, as Elite Octolings we have a duty to our people, we will be the last to leave, as it is written." the captain replied.

"That may be so, but in the meantime there are a few things we must discuss, first off, there are barely any high ranking Octarians left, if we include the colonel leading the reserve army, all that is left are six of us."

"We can worry about rank once we are finished here, besides there is always some young talent out there."

"We were thinking of rescuing Octavio, while the New Squidbeak Splatoon is guarding him, there must be a way to get past them."

'_Rescuing Octavio? I had almost forgotten about him._'

"That would be a priority, but given our current circumstances we can't conduct an operation like that, there are just too few of us left."

"It wouldn't be too hard to elevate the ranks of some of the other Octolings."

"True, but the title of Elite should not be easily obtained, though perhaps we can make something work once we are set up in the Canyon. For now focus on the evacuations."

The four Elites looked at each other.

"I believe you are mistaken captain, remember that we were ordered to aid you in your assault on Inkopolis, not follow your orders."

"Really, in a time like this you still cling on to orders given by a deceased acting leader? There are times where you must act on your own accord."

"No, we are Elite Octolings, we are loyal to Octavio's will no matter what it may be. With Octavia gone there is no one else to speak for Octavio, thus he is now our top priority."

"If you four think you can beat the entire New Squidbeak Splatoon, then you can go ahead and try, im assisting the evacuations and acting when the time is right."

"You are ignoring your duty as an Elite Octoling, Octavio should come first, he is far more important than anyone else here."

"If it was that easy, then Octavia would have had him rescued long ago, and I am not ignoring my duty, I am simply accepting that we are not in a state where rescuing Octavio is possible."

"And when the time comes where Octavio can be rescued, how will you know?"

"What are you getting at? If you simply want to argue with me then this whole conversation is pointless, im staying to oversee the evacuations along with the rest of my splatoon, you four can go do whatever else you plan on doing."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"We will follow the evacuation procedures, but after that, rescuing Octavio is a must."

"Of course, without a leader to keep everyone in line, who knows what would happen? Rest assured, i'm not abandoning Octavio to the Inklings, we will go for him when the time is right, for now we must focus on the evacuation."

The four Elites left wordlessly.

The captain was considering the possibility of splatting those four, but perhaps they had a point. They never had problems with moles and traitors when Octavio was around, it was as if something changed when Octavio was captured…

'_Oh well, for now I should just talk to the teams I sent to Nautilus, I need to make sure Octavia is gone.'_

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

Inker strolled around Inkopolis Plaza.

Normally he would meet Kal here, or Neon would spot him and loudly call him over, or Sky with his low sense of presence would just appear.

However unbeknownst to him, Kal was taking Victoria to various places in Inkopolis, try to help her get over the disaster in Octo Valley. At the moment Kal and Victoria were playing on an arcade machine, as for Neon she had already joined another ranked match.

So today Inker only found Sky.

"There you are, I couldn't find anyone yesterday, what happened?" Sky asked, not wanted to be left out as usual.

"The Cap'n had me run to Octo Valley for an acquaintance of his, an Inkling called Arcus."

"Arcus? Inkopolis' minister of defense?"

"Oh you heard of him."

"Yeah he's all over the news, I hear he's trying to get permission from the prime minister to rearm Inkopolis."

"If this goes on, then the Inkopolis army would be reformed in no time."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"I don't know."

…..

"By the way, have you seen Kal or Neon today?" Inker asked

"I think I saw Kal by the arcade machine earlier, but I haven't Neon around."

"Well she's probably playing turf or some other mode without us then."

"Yeah, what else would she do… What are you up to today?"

"Honestly I have no idea, I wanted to find a way to stop the fighting between the Inklings and Octarians, yet so far nothing i've done has helped."

"Hey that's a hard goal for one Inkling, I got some free time, so how about we try and find out more about those protests going on."

"I already did, I texted Callie and Marie when I got back yesterday, remember how they damaged that news helicopter when they came to our rescue? Well to make up for it they ended up making a two hour special on Lila and her experience in Octo Valley."

"That's it? That's all it took for Inklings to start protesting for an army?"

"It would seem so, after that news report the families of the other squidnapped Inklings joined in, sharing their stories over social media, then they pieced together what happened to Bogs, the guy who Kal said was boiled to death. Before long a movement started to re arm Inkopolis and take revenge on the Octarians."

"That's not exactly a bad thing is it?"

Inker let out a sigh.

"I don't know, honestly I can't seem to understand how things became this complicated all of a sudden, what happened to the times where all I had to do was fight through a kettle and reach a Zapfish? I can't believe this, but i'm starting to wish Octavio was still in charge."

"uhh"

Sky gave Inker a squinty eyed looked.

"Oh sorry about that I got lost in thought. Well wanna head over to Inkopolis tower? If anything Neon should be there, I doubt she'd be doing anything else at this time."

"Sure let's go."

* * *

**Melanin prison, Octo Valley**

"You all did good, I understand it was hard, really it was a hard choice for me too, but I already chose to trust the captain, so I will not be looking back, you shouldn't either as it will only hold you back." Claire spoke to the groups of Octolings who had returned from Nautilus. "I would like to confirm with you that all the Elites and Nautilus' communications were destroyed."

"Yes of course" one Octoling replied "we threw all the Splat Bombs we had, then after the explosions we looked inside the meeting room and saw no one, they were all splatted."

"And what about the communications room?"

"Yes all taken care of" Lynn said.

Although she still couldn't shake the idea that she had done something wrong.

An Octarian splatting another Octarian? Who could think of such a thing.

"Well then, the captain will be pleased to hear, now keep quiet about this, we must never speak of this again."

"Understood!" all the Octolings said at once.

Now they were to leave and blend in with the reserve army helping with evacuations.

First they all split up, then walked separately to the Undercity.

Octarians were everywhere, they mumbled among themselves, many were worried or scared, they were not sure what to do now that they had lost both the DJ and the Acting Leader.

They were also leaving almost everything they had known behind.

Lynn gazed upon the masses of Octarians, they were hard to tell apart as she didn't know any of them personally and they looked no different from the ones in the communications room.

The ones she had splatted...

'_This isn't right! I shouldn't have shot our own countrymen in that room!_'

Lynn was full of regret.

She grabbed and shook her head, trying to shake away the memory of her splatting other Octarians.

What if the roles were reversed? What if those in the room had fought back?

What if they were in the same situation as her?

'_Did they also have family members depending on them back home?'_

As an only child, and the only one in her family capable of working, Lynn's parents had depended on her income to barely live on.

She along with Claire and Madison had that in common, their families depended on them and were not in a good state, which was why they made that deal with the red Inkling who knew Agent 3.

'_Could the ones we splatted be the same? Could Claire have brought herself to shoot them if she was in my position? What about Madison? If she was still alive what would she have chosen to do?'_

Claire however, made it very clear that she was loyal to the captain, so she would have had no problem taking Lynn's place, while Madison was splatted when the New Squidbeak Splatoon attacked Melanin prison.

"Attention everyone! Make sure you packed only what's important we must leave as soon as possible! watch the children, don't lose them in the crowd!" It was Claire's voice over a megaphone.

Claire was standing in front of a saucer instructing other Octarians to enter, all while other Octarians, both from the reserve army, or the captain's splatoon were helping civilians with their luggage or helping them board.

Lynn joined the other soldiers helping out, once the saucer was full Lynn and Claire both boarded it and flew off to Octo Canyon.

They flew off at tremendous speeds arriving in Octo Canyon in no longer than an hour, all the civilians were dropped off and the saucer flew back to the undercity to pick up another load of Octarians.

Once against helping out, Lynn dejectedly helped load suitcases into the saucer.

She was moving at a slower pace than the other Octarians, even the Octotroopers who had to work in pairs worked faster.

"Hey you, come with me for a sec."

Surprised, Lynn looked up and saw Claire standing in front of her, gesturing her to follow.

Claire took Lynn away from the others to an already evacuated area.

She glanced around, making sure no one was within earshot, then she looked at Lynn.

"You don't believe in this, in what we are doing."

Lynn looked shocked for a moment, she had forgotten that Claire was an expert when it came to reading people.

"Well do you?" Lynn asked instead of confirming what Claire suspected by now.

"Of course, that's why I followed along. But you, you seem to have something on your mind, something that's bothering you. What do you think of our little coup?"

"Urgh, I don't know, the captain says we had no other choice."

"But i'm not talking to the captain, i'm talking to you. Tell me, when I suggested to you and Madison that we do a favor for that Inkling in order to keep Agent 3 away from us, what did you think?"

"Gee uhh, you and Madison were ready to go for it so I figured i'd go along."

Claire brought her hand up to her chin and stared at Lynn, as if trying to figure her out.

"What about the Octarian army? There are always other jobs opening up everyday, since someone keeps dying each day, so why enroll in the army?"

"Well a lot of Octolings I knew were talking about it, and at the time I didn't know of any other jobs."

"Have you ever made a decision for yourself?"

"Well sure I did, at one point…... I think…."

"What is it that's bothering you so much anyways?"

"Everything, this whole scheme, the Octarians in the communications room, abandoning Octo Valley. How can you just follow along so easily?"

"Because I believe in the captain's judgement of course, that makes things easy."

"How? How can everything just become easy? Splatting other Octarians was the hardest thing I had ever done."

"Is that what was bothering you?"

"..Yes, I can't shake that sight, our company walked right into the room and the operators inside had no idea what was coming, and that look, the look on their faces, the look of fear when we suddenly drew our weapons and shot them all. What were they like? Could they have been in a situation like me and you, where our families depend on our salary? Everyone here knows that death is extremely common, and most who perish are forgotten, did we just doom all those in the communications room to be forever forgotten?"

"If you had your doubts you could have walked away, the captain gave us a choice you know, we didn't have to do this, but we chose to."

"No, I didn't I just followed along, I didn't know there would be consequences like this."

"Every action has consequences, so it's better to stand for what you believe in, because no matter what you do, you'll be facing some sort of consequence sometime down the road."

"So what? You would have shot those Octarians in the communications room without a second thought?"

"Yes"

"How could you? I know we all underwent training so that we would have no problem taking the lives of others, but this is unthinkable. You would just do it because of the captain?"

"No, I would do it because I believe what the captain said, not because of her, remember that we were to be sent to Inkopolis Plaza, the most populated area of Inkopolis, not only that but we would have to enter one by one though a tiny manhole, it's a bottleneck, an unfavorable place to stage an assault. I believe that if we did follow orders and go to Inkopolis, we would have all died in Inkopolis."

"I didn't think of that, but was there really no other way?"

"There is always another way, but nobody could think of one at the moment, so we chose to follow along with the coup. What about you? You didn't really choose, but just followed along because the captain was your commanding officer."

"Yeah I know, but honestly what difference does it make whether or not I chose to follow the captain or the acting leader?"

"It may not seem like that big of a difference but it does, maybe you could have had ideas that would benefit either group, or maybe you would be all they need to win a battle by the skin of their teeth. I said it before, that Octo Valley would be split into two, it's time to choose who to believe in, you'll be of no help to either side until you make that choice."

With that Claire left to aid with evacuations.

Lynn noticed how she didn't ask her to return to helping with the evacuations.

'_Was she telling me to sit back and do nothing?'_

Lynn wasn't sure what to do here, but she was still wearing armor and was equipped like a soldier, so she returned to help with evacuations so that she wouldn't stand out.

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

Kalus and Victoria had just left Cooler Heads.

After trying all the games Kal had on the arcade machine, Kal decided to show her around the shops.

Of course usually only squids at level 4 were fresh enough to be allowed in, but the gear Victoria wore was convincing enough.

Excepted for this store…

"That annoying little fish! Who does he think he is? Definitely not a tough guy considering he fainted instantly upon seeing me when I first got here!"

"Easy Victoria."

Indeed, while the other shops let them in, Moe was not fooled by Victoria's gear.

While Annie had welcomed them in normally like any other shop keeper, Moe started yelling at Victoria for being a "fake" who "probably stole all her gear cause she couldn't get any fresher."

Following that, Kal had to drag an enraged Victoria out before she pulled out Annie's hair in order to get the the little Clownfish.

At least he didn't know Victoria's identity.

"Say, is that little fish really that important? I still have my Octoling gear with me, would anyone miss him if he was to say uhh, suddenly disappear because an Octoling broke into his store at night?"

"I'm begging you, please don't cause any trouble here, also please don't say things like that out loud. Moe really isn't that bad once you get used to him."

"Not bad? It's a miracle that shop of isn't in the red, that anemone must be a very competent store owner."

"Yeah she is. Even though I think it's mostly due to her personality that she keeps getting customers." Kal muttered under his breath.

"Hmm? What was that last part?"

"Nothing… Well all that's left is Inkopolis tower, are you ready to see what me, Inker and the others do all the time?"

"Inkopolis tower, so you are going to join a turf war."

"Yes of course, it's great fun, i'm sure Inker and the others are there already, even if they are not i'm sure Neon would be there.'

"Okay, but could you maybe value your life a bit more?"

Kal gave a confused expression

"What does that mean?"

"It means umm, don't go doing anything dangerous."

"Don't worry I'm not repeatedly joining ranked matches like a certain Charger user."

Victoria was worried about Kal being splatted during a turf war match, but she didn't know that the Inklings could respawn if they had a spawn point nearby, too her the existence of spawn points and respawning was unknown.

As for Kal he assumed Victoria was talking about losing points in ranked battles or something. He also didn't understand why Victoria looked so worried.

The two entered Inkopolis Tower, with Victoria seeming a bit nervous.

"Okay this is where we split up, you take a left from here and it will let you pick a match to spectate."

"Wait i'm not coming along?"

"Yeah, you see there's this matchmaking room that scans your level, rank and other stuff, but you are a you know what, and it might figure that out."

Victoria was expecting to battle alongside Kalus

'_If Kal goes in alone he'll most likely be splatted, no but he said he does this alot so maybe most Inklings are incompetent when it comes to battle? Still I want to be there to back him up.'_

"Are you sure? Maybe it will just think i'm a newbie squid, I really want to come along."

"I don't want to take the risk, sorry."

"But not having me with you is a risk, can you please let me try? I don't want you to go alone."

"Don't worry, I know i'm probably not as good as you are when it comes to fighting but I think I can still win, go and cheer for me alright!"

"Wait!"

Too late, Kal entered the matchmaking room.

Victoria wanted to follow, but then realized that she might not end up in the same battle as Kal and if Inkopolis tower did find out that she was an Octoling there would be an uproar.

Victoria ran to the place Kal had pointed out, apparently it was where you could spectate battles.

"Where is the battle with my friend Kalus taking part?!"

"Whoa too close, calm down there!" the frightened receptionist replied when Victoria came charging up to her in order to find out how to spectate Kal's match.

The receptionist browsed through the current matches for anyone named Kalus.

"Yeah he's starting a Turf War war in Arowana Mall shortly, tunnel number eight will take you to the spectator box for that match."

Victoria left in a hurry, she had to be there in case something went wrong.

"Tunnel number eight huh? Hey! Wait up!" came a familiar voice, but Victoria had already run off before she could hear it.

She had fought Kal before and was able to get the upper hand despite being unarmed, she was aware that he wasn't the best and if something were to happen during this awful "game" she'd have to jump in.

Upon arriving at the spectator box for Arowana Mall Victoria made her way through the crowd and glanced around the map quickly, trying to spot Kal.

"?"

All the Inklings here were either yellow or purple.

'_Did I take a wrong turn?'_ Victoria wondered

"Huff….huff you are really fast….. Huff" a Cyan Inkling came running up behind Victoria.

"Oh its you, uhh…. I'm sorry I forgot your name."

"Huff..it's Sky.. huff" Sky was still catching his breath.

"Okay nice to meet you Sky, but I need to go, do you know where Kal's Turf War is happening?"

"It's right here…. Huff. Look! There he is."

Sky pointed at a yellow Inkling with a Slosher.

Sure he looked like Kal, used the same weapon and wore the same clothes but Kal was red.

"Umm are you sure?"

"Yes, in turf wars, the Inklings participating are recoloured so they can work together with their team."

"Oh okay.'

Victoria immediatly focused on the now yellow Kalus.

He swam around and hopped up to cover uninked turf for the first few seconds.

Then his team met the opposing team and started exchanging ink, Victoria saw many weapons she had not seen before, there was one which fired an exploding shot as if it was shooting small splat bombs, some sort of deployable ink wall, a giant speaker that fired a laser and many other things.

'_The Inklings really have stepped up on their weapons..._' Victoria thought

Kal was doing well for himself, he sloshed Ink and ran when out ranged, caught Inklings coming around corners and also managed to splat one by sloshing ink through a grate from below.

Sky noticed Victoria exhale in relief.

It was a match full of fast paced action, Inklings jumping out of their ink to fire at one another, tossing bombs, firing shooters, rolling with rollers…

And finally, almost two minutes into the game, Kal was too busy splatting another Inkling to notice a second approach him from higher ground and leap down on him while flailing an inkbrush.

Victoria tried to vault out of the spectator box when she saw this happening.

"Hey stop!" Sky quickly grabbed Victoria and pulled her back.

Too late, Kal got splatted

Victoria could only watch with a face of horror.

How could this happen, why did she let it happen?

Victoria felt the strength leave her legs as she buried her face in her hands.

"Umm, what are you doing?" Sky asked, confused as to why Victoria had just kneeled down.

"Kal is…. is "

"Is what?"

"Splatted."

"Oh yeah, that happens all the time."

'_All the time?'_

"I thought you were his friend, how could you be so heartless?"

"?"

"I can't believe he's gone too."

"?... I don't think we are on the same page, Kal's fine, in fact he's in a good position to splat the inkbrush user who just got him."

"?"

Victoria glanced over the railing

"What? I could have sworn I saw him get splatted…"

"Yeah he did, but that doesn't matter, not in turf at least, didn't you notice the spawn points?"

"Spawn points?"

"Yeah look over there."

Since Victoria had been so focused on Kalus she hadn't seen the strange pads on each side of the map.

It would appear that when an Inkling was splatted they would just simply be respawned back at these "spawn points".

"Oh, so being splatted is basically a joke here….."

"Not really, only in certain places where a spawn point is nearby- hey where are you going now?"

Victoria had turned away and was leaving the spectator box

"...I'm going back to Kal's place, let him know once he's done."

Victoria wasn't sure what to think of this.

In Octo Valley someone dies each day, accidents happen all the time, families torn apart, loved ones taken away….

Yet all this time, Inkopolis had something like this, something that turned war into a game.

She felt relieved that Kalus was okay, but also felt angry that something like this was kept hidden.

'_That spawn point could have solved the biggest problem with Octo Valley, why didn't anyone tell me about this? Why didn't Kal say anything about this? Does he enjoy seeing me troubled, saddened and shocked? If I had known something like this existed, I could have saved mom and dad!'_

Even though she had found out about respawning, she couldn't have brought such technology into Octo Valley, yet she still felt mad at Kalus for treating death like a game.

Victoria returned to Kal's home, somewhat angry and somewhat sad, Kal's attempt at cheering her up had failed.

* * *

When Kalus had finished his match he couldn't find Victoria anywhere, he looked around but didn't call her name as she should stand out easily with that helmet.

He met Inker and Sky in front of Inkopolis tower.

"Hi Kal, if you are looking for Victoria she went back to your place."

"How did you know?"

"I ran into her when I was on my way to spectate Inker's match and followed her instead, you know you should probably have told her about the whole respawning thing in Inkopolis, she almost jumped in and interrupted the match when she saw you get splatted."

"What? I thought she'd know by now, didn't you tell her about Turf Wars?" Kal looked at Inker

"Yes but I don't think I mentioned respawning. Why did you bring her here anyways? Wouldn't Turf Wars be a bad reminder of the battles in Octo Valley?"

"I…. I didn't think about that, I just wanted to show her around Inkopolis and Inkopolis Tower was the last thing to show….."

"Why? She should have been feeling down so should she be left alone for a bit?"

"I don't know, it's just that well, she was spending her entire day staring blankly into that album she brought and I thought it would be a good idea to get her mind off it, I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, what should I do now?"

Inker and Sky exchanged glances, they didn't know what to do either.

The only way anyone died here was from old age or if they were really unlucky, sickness, so they had no idea what it was like to lose someone because they were splatted by another living being.

"Maybe wait a bit, then talk to her I guess?" Inker suggested

"Yeah that, also try not to mention the difference between Octo Valley and Inkopolis maybe?" Sky added

"Hmm" Kal wondered '_But there's not much else I can speak about, most of my life was in Inkopolis and I barely know anything about Octo Valley's lifestyle.'_

"I guess you are right, i'll try and talk to her sometime later.."

Kal left for his home, wondering what had he done wrong.

When Kal returned Victoria was back to being a depressing sight, sitting alone staring off into the family album she had brought along.

"Hi, uhh are you alright?"

No response.

"Hey i'm sorry if turf wars brought up some bad memories, really I didn't think a harmless game would do that."

No response.

"Well I want you to know that I was just trying to get your mind off Octo valley and I really didn't mean any harm and if anything is still bothering you you can talk to me about it, I may not understand but i'll do my best to make sense of it."

Still no response

"I umm, i'll go make dinner soon, don't go starving yourself okay."

Kal left to put his Slosher and other gear back, as he was putting everything back into his weapon closet he noticed something that he had hidden under his Splattershot JR: the picture of Victoria's last night in Octo Valley.

He had the photo developed even though it wasn't the best quality and had planned on giving it to Victoria once she felt better but now he didn't know what to do with it.

'_What if this only makes her more depressed? Maybe I should just tear this up and throw it out._'

For now though, he put it back in his weapon closet, hidden under the beginner equipment that he would never use again.

* * *

**Octo Canyon**

At a large camp where the Octarian reserve army had set up tents and other temporary structures.

"Move along everyone! Don't worry this is just a temporary housing, we'll have you moved into the new cities as soon as we figure out how to spread everyone out." An Elite Octoling yelled and motioned to all the Octarians to enter the camp.

Group of Octarians moved through the camp while Octarian soldiers stood in front of many tents speaking to the civilians.

"Greetings, how many are with you? One adult five children? okay you can come in here…. Good evening, how many are with you? Just you? Alright then head on over there." Claire was directing the civilians to different tents where they would spend the night.

"Doe, is anyone here named Doe!? This is yours." Lynn was helping unload luggage from the saucers and giving it to the owners.

As for the captain, she was the last to arrive.

"How is everything going?" she asked one of the remaining Elite Octolings

"Good, we are currently deciding how to organise these Octarians since having all of them find their own homes would be chaos, for the moment they will all stay here while we make sure all the kettles and cities are up to standard."

"Well that won't be a problem, carry on then, once everyone is done I want you and the other Elites to gather for a quick meeting, we need to discuss the defense of Octo Canyon."

"And the rescue of Octavio?"

"Yes that too."

"You are aware that you are not the highest ranking officer here right?"

"Of course, but in times like this, a meeting is necessary to determine our course of action."

As the captain left, the Elite Octoling waved over an Octoling.

"Go tell the other lieutenants and the colonel, that the captain wishes to see them."

The Octoling nodded then left, however a few moments later another one came running back.

She held a letter in front of the Elite, who was busy directing the troops who were setting up more temporary housing and places to eat.

"Now?"

The Octoling nodded

"Is it that important?"

"Yes"

"Very well." the Elite said as she snatched the letter from the Octoling.

She unfolded it and read the contents, indeed it was an important letter.

The Elite tore up the letter and glared suspiciously at the captain...


	19. Captain's Fall

**Octo Canyon**

While the Octarians were still living in the temporary settlements the reserve army had set up, the captain was already proceeding with her plans.

A messenger was sent to Nautilus to inform the other battalions of their plans, while the ones at Octo Canyon were busy settling in to their new home.

Inside a tent that the reserve army had set up to serve as the command post the Elites were having a meeting.

There was only six of them but they had all the time they needed to plan for the coming conflict and the captain already knew what to do.

"If we are in Octo Canyon, we must make the Inkling think we are somewhere else. We've been in Octo Valley for so long they probably expect us to still be there, so we should send the bulk of the army still stationed at Nautilus to move in real close to Inkopolis and gather attention." the captain explained.

The messenger sent to Nautilus would tell those remaining there to move on the manhole to Inkopolis Plaza and lay siege to the city, but not to enter it until given the order to do so.

Then the ones at Octo Canyon would forge a path into Inkopolis Square, which was pretty far west of Inkopolis Plaza, this should take the Inklings by surprise as their defenders would probably be too occupied with Inkopolis Plaza to notice.

"So you are suggesting that the majority of our army serves as nothing but a distraction? Wouldn't it be smarter to have the smaller group be the distraction?" another Elite asked

"No, they would definitely suspect something if we did that." the captain replied

"But if we only send the reserve army it won't be long before they are overwhelmed."

"That is why the larger group at Octo Valley will break in as soon as the reserve army draws attention to Inkopolis Square."

The other Elites found themselves agreeing to this idea.

A simple flanking maneuver and with the element of surprise on their side, they may have a chance of taking over parts of the surface. If the defenders at Inkopolis Plaza moved to take back Inkopolis Square, the army at Inkopolis Square would push westwards in an attempt to stay ahead of the Inklings, while the ones at Inkopolis Plaza would move in.

"Good idea, judging by how quickly they dispatched the New Squidbeak Splatoon to help the Inklings we kidnapped, there is no way they would let us run rampant through Inkopolis Square."

"Yes, the Inkling defenders moving to Inkopolis Square is guaranteed."

If that happened then they could envelope whatever defenders the Inklings had nearby and hit them from both sides.

All six Elites could see this plan working out, but there was one problem.

"This will earn us an early victory, but we have no idea how large to Inkling army is compared to ours, nor how well equipped they are." the reserve army's Elite added.

"Yes, it is a shame we lost the Acting Leader, she had someone inside Inkopolis." another Elite added

This got the attention of the captain.

"This is my first time hearing this, who do we have undercover in Inkopolis?"

"I have no idea, though how come you didn't know? She announced it to all of us after that short skirmish in Octavio's boss kettle."

"I was ordered to leave and destroy the Rollers I had made, so I wasn't there, besides Octavia seems to be leaving me out often ever since me and the 202nd was sent to become guards of Melanin prison."

"Ahh I see, well the Acting Leader was suspicious of there being a mole at the time, so she kept the identity of the intelligence officer to herself and the highest ranking Elites, so sadly that spy is lost to us."

"Shame indeed, I feel bad abandoning someone as brave as an intelligence officer to Inkopolis, but we have no choice, hopefully we can pick them up during the invasion of Inkopolis. We shouldn't have any problem but if things really don't work as planned, a few convincing threats to the Salmonids could buy them some reinforcements."

The Salmonids were a species of fish who produced power eggs, which the Octarians used as an alternate power source to zapfish. They were also used inside the fake zapfish once Agent 3 stole all the zapfish back. They had an army of their own, and had several battles with the Octarian army until they were overpowered and agreed to a trade deal and became their allies.

Since then the Salmonids had received Octarian machinery in exchange for power eggs, the machinery the Octarians gave away were useless to them, but the Salmonids had been modifying them for their own use.

They could definitely turn the tide of battle should they be needed.

The other Elites readily agreed with the captain's suggestion.

"Great idea!"

"As expected of the hero of Ark Polaris!"

"Those Inklings don't stand a chance!"

The captain had a joyful expression, likely because she had only been scolded by Octavia before, so she was enjoying the praise, once they were done cheering for her she spoke again. "Well anyways we can't move too soon, first we need the army at Nautilus base to draw attention to them, so in the meantime we may as well get back to helping everyone settle in, is there anything you want to add major?"

"Nope, I think you have things handled, dismissed!"

The Elites left the command post, with the captain meeting Claire outside who was ready with an update on their progress in Octo Canyon.

The captain didn't notice, but Claire did, just over her shoulder, one of the other Elites was suspiciously whispering to a second, both glanced at the captain before heading off somewhere.

'_Something is going on behind our backs..'_ Claire thought.

She wanted to follow those two, but had a duty to the captain and couldn't just go off like that.

Plus she could end up in a dangerous situation.

Then again if she did disappear the captain would notice.

'_Maybe I should ask someone to follow them, or I could just tell the captain directly, yeah I probably should, though it could be nothing, i'll keep watch on those two for now.'_

Later on Claire would ask several of her fellow soldiers to watch the other Elites..

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

A day had passed

Kal wasn't sure how to speak to Victoria now, so he wandered around alone until he met Inker and Sky again.

Aside from the Octoling in his living room, everything was normal.

The three spent the day playing Rainmaker, sometimes they had fun, other times they complained about their teammates being on the other side of map when they had the Rainmaker and wishing they were allowed to always stay on the same team together.

Sure now that Sky was level 10, they had the option to play as a squad, but since Neon was strangely nowhere to be found they would have to form a tri squad and play in 3v4s.

With both Neon and Inker in a tri squad they could have a chance of winning, but with the current team, no way, even with faster respawns it would end up being Inker doing practically everything, one extra team member really made a big difference.

Another day passed and once again everything was pretty much normal.

However Victoria was still silent and Neon was still nowhere to be found.

Since they couldn't stand a chance as a tri squad, Kalus, Inker and Sky spent the first few games in random matches, then they ran into someone familiar.

"Oh hey is that Laven? Hi Laven!" Inker called out to their potential fourth squad member.

"Oh hey guys!"

Laven was holding a Blaster and was heading for the lobby, he waved back at Inker.

"How are you doing?

"Everything is just great, oh speaking of good news I hear your sister made it back safe, i'm glad you are alright after that whole thing with Vert."

"Yeah I really wasn't myself at that time, well what's new with you?"

"Well we wanted to play a squad battle but we couldn't find our fourth and you know how tri squads are."

"Yeah, hey I was just here for a regular battle but if you want i'll join you guys."

"Sure"

Laven looked behind Inker and recognised Sky, but not Kalus, though he did look familiar.

"Hello Sky.. and…?"

"I'm Kalus, or Kal if you prefer."

"Kal?" that name also sounded familiar to Laven, perhaps he heard it somewhere before.

Oh well, now was time for a squad battle.

Sky however was glancing into the crowd in the lobby.

He could have sworn to have just seen Neon…..

Maybe it was another bright green Inkling, or maybe she was avoiding them for some reason?

Who knows.

* * *

**Urchin Underpass**

It was a tower control match.

One fast moving platform in the center, two teams of four.

Kal, Inker, Sky and Laven were now all purple, while their opponents were all turquoise.

They all made their way towards the center, covering turf along the way.

Sky was first to be splatted, Kal ducked below the platform which was on top of a cube and inked the cube so that they could swim onto the platform from below.

An opposing Inkling leapt onto the platform, but a single splat bomb was enough to clear it again.

Kal leapt on and himself was quickly splatted too.

Inker and Laven had more range so they spent their time moving around and firing on the enemy team, only hopping on to the platform once they had splatted every opposing Inkling.

Inker made good use of his Splattershot Pro, since it handled like the Hero Shot he was so used to using.

While Laven could clear the tower easily with his Blaster.

Sky was using the Inkbrush he bought some time before, it allowed him to move faster than the Roller, but in turn covered less ground.

As for Kal, he was using his Slosher again.

'_Distance 90, 89, 88, 87, 86…'_

At 76 the newly respawned opposing team arrived again.

At least now they were further away from the middle.

The tower was moving through a narrow path, Laven and Inker splatted one opposing inkling before hopping off.

The next few moments was a battle between the three other opponents and Inker and Laven.

They swam around, hopping up occasionally to fire or throw bombs.

Laven went down first, but not before getting a few good shots in with his Blaster.

Thanks to the splash damage Laven did, Inker managed to splat two Inklings before getting splatted.

By the time Laven and Inker were splatted, Sky and Kal had made it back.

The two easily finished off the last opponent and hopped back on the platform.

'_75, 74, 73, 72…'_

The closer they got to their goal, the quicker the enemies came.

Kal hopped off the tower early to hide around a corner, as he expected the enemy team to arrive soon, Sky stayed on the tower.

Sky was the first of the two to get splatted, as the opposing team instinctively threw a splat bomb onto the tower to clear it.

Kal got the one throwing the splat bomb, but then was run down by a roller.

The tower stopped at distance 48 and was now moving back as the enemy team controlled it.

Laven arrived first, tossing a disruptor into the tower, after successfully slowing down one Inkling, he landed a direct hit.

Inker arrived shortly afterwards, moving fast and firing his Splattershot pro with precision, even though the weapon wasn't perfectly accurate, nor powerful enough to instantly splat an Inkling, its rate of fire made it perfect for on the move harassment.

Despite this the tower was still being pushed back, after travelling into the purple team's side for a while, Kal, Inker, Sky and Laven had regrouped and regained control.

This would go on back and forth for a few minutes.

Kal and Sky would try to get close to splat the opposing team, Inker would move around, usually behind Sky's Inkbrush and splat someone when the opportunity presented itself, Laven would mostly go for clearing the tower first.

They managed to get the tower distance to 40 before the match was over.

And as usual, they all cheered once the results were announced.

"Wooohoooo!"

"Hey you guys are pretty good!" Laven said

"You were pretty good yourself." Inker replied

"It got really tough for a while there." Sky pointed out

"Yeah tower control will be like that, this was your first time playing it right?"

"Yep, I like it, makes you get close to the enemy spawn and things get really crazy."

"I didn't ask this earlier, but what happened to your fourth anyways?" Laven asked

"Good question, in fact it's so good even we don't know." Inker joked

"but all seriousness, what happened to Neon? I haven't seen her in the last four days." Kal asked.

Inker and Sky shrugged

"Well then, guess i'll stick around for another match." Laven said as the group returned to the lobby.

Then, after yet another win under their (theoretical) belts, Laven suddenly said something strange.

"You guys are really good, you should be taking part in the Vanguard movement."

"Vanguard movement?" Inker, Kal and Sky all asked at once.

"Yeah, how come you haven't heard of it? Since the prime minister won't allow the creation of an army, we are just going to make our own."

'_Red flag'_ Inker thought '_these guys are getting into some dangerous stuff'_

"That sounds dangerous, I don't think the IPD will allow something like that."

"Well they can't really do anything regardless, ever since Lila returned I wanted to get back at those Octarians, actually if I recall one of your friends was taken by the Octarians too." Laven's tone was getting angrier by the minute.

"Uhh yeah, that was me, also you know Lila?"

"It was you? No wonder you seemed familiar, I'm her brother, we were on the news the day we returned, of course Lila was rescued much later than the rest of you, didn't you see what they did to her?"

Kal had flashbacks to the boiling pit, Bogs screaming for help and pleading for mercy, but Lila? Lila didn't make a sound, then later she was found heavily scarred, presumably by the pit.

"Yeah, yeah I saw, I was there you know, In Melanin prison, they stuck me and your sister in the same cell, along with a third, he didn't make it."

"Melanin? Is that what they called that place? And the third inkling, it was Bogs wasn't it." Laven's tone was orginally cheerful and inviting, but as he went on he seemed to get angrier

"How did you know."

"The families of the victims have been gathering and sharing their stories, how come i never heard about you before?"

The truth was that Kal was still in Octo Valley and then spent his time worrying about Victoria, so he had no idea what was going on, of course he couldn't say that.

"Well I live alone and my family knows I can take care of myself so they probably didn't even know I was taken."

"That has to be a lie, everyone knew who was missing, well whatever, look first everyone was protesting for an army but that's going nowhere, so the Mire family started suggesting we take matters into our own hands, everyone else agreed, that's why i'm playing turf wars so much more now, we are all getting ready to take on the Octarians."

"Laven, you realise Octo Valley is too far underground for the spawn points to find you, if you go down there and get splatted you won't be respawning." Inker cut in, hoping to convince Laven that he was making a bad choice

"Huh?" Laven was surprised, it would appear that he never considered the possibility of no respawns.

'_Seriously did you really think fighting in Octo Valley was the same as turf wars?' Inker thought_

"How do you know that?" Laven asked

Inker couldn't say why, so he had to come up with some other reason "Isn't it obvious? There are even places outside of Inkopolis where you cannot respawn."

"Yeah but those are really really far from here, Octo Valley is right below you know."

'_I know that, I am the one who keeps going down there to fight the Octarians.'_ Inker wanted to say it so badly, but kept his mouth shut.

"And we play turf all the time, it will just be the same but with bigger teams."

"No it isn't! There are.. The Octarians… there is no guarantee that the Octarians fight the exact same way as us."

"That's true, but if we sit around who knows when someone else will get squidnapped, it could be you? Heck maybe even the friend you were looking for has been squidnapped."

"Neon? No way that could happen."

"You don't know that, the Octarians can sneak around at their leisure since we got nobody protecting Inkopolis, there may even be one hiding in your own home!"

Kal averted his gaze.

"No, Neon is the best among us, sure her personality might be a bit weird, but she's unbeatable when it comes to a fight."

"Okay you keep believing that, if you ever find out the Octarians took her, come find the Vanguard movement since obviously nobody else will do anything."

For some reason Laven seemed more and more angry as he talked about Octo Valley and Lila, he left the three and went off on his own.

"Vanguard movement huh." Sky wondered

"It's a bad idea, I should tell the Cap'n about this, we can't have a bunch of angry trigger happy squids going into Octo Valley." Inker added

"Now that you mention it, maybe Neon really was taken?" Kal asked

"No, I could have sworn I saw her in the lobby, but i'm just worried Neon might end up joining this Vanguard movement thing."

Kal agreed "Yeah it really does seem like something she would do."

"Have any of you heard anything from her recently?"

"No, I even tried calling her, goes straight to voicemail." Inker replied

"I think maybe we should pay her a visit?"

"I think so too, but I need to tell the Cap'n to block off the manhole to Octo Valley if this Vanguard movement is really planning on running into Octo valley."

"I doubt Neon is home though, if you saw her here then she's probably still playing ranked matches on her own, we should just look for her around Inkopolis Tower, or see if we can find her in the on going matches." Kal suggested

"I'll leave that too you guys." Inker was about to head off, but he remembered something else. "Oh that's right, Kal maybe you should leave Sky to find Neon, you have other problems to deal with, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"You aren't really just going to leave Victoria as she is."

"I don't but what else can I do? I tried showing her around Inkopolis but that didn't help."

"Well don't look at me, surely you would have thought of something else by now."

"No I really haven't, I'm not even sure how much stuff is bothering her at this point, the loss of her family? Leaving behind everything she's known? Thinking that I was permanently splatted in turf?"

Inker shrugged, "if anyone would know its you."

'_Has Neon gotten to you too?' _Kal thought "I really have no idea though, I need more time."

"Well everyone accepts what happens eventually." Sky pointed out

"That may take too long, I know it was never safe having her here from the start, but it seems now Inkopolis is further away from accepting Octarians than ever, we may need to send Victoria elsewhere." Inker added

'_Send Victoria elsewhere? But what could she do outside of Inkopolis, she doesn't know anyone else on the surface, if she could just have a bit more time here she could have a good life in Inkopolis.'_

'_Could have?'_

"!" Kal suddenly realised something, "Okay then, I'll leave Neon to you guys."

"? Okay then, leave it to me." Sky was a bit surprised at this sudden decision, but had no complaints.

"Alright, i'll see you all tomorrow, bye." Kal left in a hurry.

He wasn't sure why he had started caring so much about Victoria, but well he wasn't going to deny it either.

Neon could say whatever she wanted.

But just now Kal had just realised where he went wrong.

It all made sense to him now, why she was wondering what having a family picnic and other simple things felt like, why she still kept that album yet couldn't bring herself to open it.

'_Victoria isn't just feeling sad because of leaving Octo Valley or losing her family, it's losing the life she could have had, the one that she wanted, just when it was within reach. Yes that had to be the main reason.'_

* * *

**Octo Canyon**

It was almost night, and Octarians all over the camp were starting to settle in.

The main army should have made it to the Inkopolis Plaza manhole by now, if everything goes according to plan then there should be little resistance awaiting the reserve army and the others at Octo Canyon.

In fact the Reserve army had just left for Inkopolis Square.

While the captain stayed behind to watch over the camp, Claire are troubles of her own.

After noticing two of the Elites acting suspiciously about two days ago she had asked an Octotrooper follow them around.

Yesterday the Octotrooper vanished, so Claire requested two Octocopters follow the Elites around and maybe find the missing Octotrooper.

Today they vanished as well.

It was more than enough to arouse her suspicions.

Something was happening behind their backs.

Despite the lack of proper evidence Claire decided that she had to say something to the captain.

She hurried past the scores of Octarians going about the vast array of tents and temporary housing, until she finally reached the one that the captain was using as her office.

"Captain."

The captain looked up from a pile of papers on her desk

"Yes?"

"The other Elites are plotting something, i'm not sure what yet, but-"

"Excuse me!" Came a loud loud from nowhere, interrupting Claire.

She was cut off by the arrival of the four Elites.

"Sorry for interrupting captain, but there is a messenger from the army at Nautilus here."

"Well then? Go see what they are here for, I'm busy right now."

"They say that they want to speak to you directly."

"Tell them that there is no need, just continue with the plan to drawn the Inkling army's attention to Octo Valley."

"We have done that, but still they insist that you speak with them."

"Alright then, but let's make this quick."

Claire wanted to say something, but the captain got up and left.

The four Elites escorted the captain out, as they left, one of them glanced over at Claire giving her a knowing look.

Claire, who could tell truth from lie and read emotions pretty clearly knew that she was too late.

The Elites must have found out about her, she couldn't read their minds or anything like that, but she could tell they were mocking her.

'_Too late! What should I do now?'_

She was sure the captain wouldn't be coming back, what could she do now?

Exiting the captain's office/tent Claire gathered as many of her fellow soldiers as she could find.

"What's going on Claire?" Lynn asked as she and many others were brought together.

"Something is up, I noticed the four Elites who came with us from Nautilus acting strangely these past two days."

"What was strange about them?" another soldier a shielded Octotrooper asked

"I have no idea, that's what is even more suspicious, I had a few guys tail them to try and find out, but they all disappeared without a trace."

The soldiers all had the same look of shock of their faces

"Did you tell the captain about this?" an Octoling asked

"I tried to, but the Elites had just taken her away as I was about to tell her, does anyone know where she is headed?"

"I saw her just a moment ago with the other Elites heading towards a saucer that had landed to the west of the camp." Lynn said, pointing in the direction where a saucer from Nautilus had landed.

"Okay good, come on everyone, the Elites might be planning their own coup, we need to help the captain incase something bad happens, so bring your weapons too."

All the soldiers present were geared up, they all went in the direction of the saucer.

Claire slowed down a bit to talk to Lynn who was following at the back.

"Are you up for this? If things really are as bad as I think we may end up fighting the Elites."

Lynn paused for a moment to consider everything

"Yes. You keep telling me to decide things for myself, so i've decided I have no problem with following along, it just means less trouble for me I guess."

"That's not what I was trying to point out before, but nevermind that, you'll have more chances to make choices in the future, for now let's hurry to the captain's side."

* * *

**Kal's home, Inkopolis**

When he returned home, Kal kept with the regular routine of placing the equipment he was using back in his gear closet.

Once he was done that however, he took the photo that he had hidden under his Splattershot jr

There were a thousand thoughts going through his head, what if he was wrong about Victoria, or what if she started seeing him as a creep who like to secretly snap photos of everyone?

Kal hesitated for a bit, then pocketed the photo and went back to the living room.

Victoria was a depressing sight, still hunched over that closed album, even though she had been eating correctly, it looked as if the colours was starting to fade from her.

Kal took a seat next to Victoria.

"Feeling better yet?"

Victoria didn't say anything, she would not take her eyes off the album she had brought from Octo Valley.

"You've been staring at that for quite some time now, why don't you open it?"

Victoria moved one hand across the album, but stopped halfway through.

"I can't." Victoria muttered

"Why not?"

"It's nothing but bad memories."

"If so, then why do you keep it so close?"

"Can you please not ask so many questions?"

"Sorry, I know there's a lot bothering you, but honestly seeing you like this bothers me too."

"You have no idea…."

"I'm really sorry about the Turf Wars thing, I forgot that well, you know."

Kal avoided saying the word.

"It's fine, I know you meant well."

"Then can you please tell me what's wrong? I'm going crazy wondering why you sit here all day now staring into blank space."

What Kal said must have had an effect on Victoria, because she finally looked up from the closed album.

"What can I do with this? There is nothing inside but bad memories, but it's also the only thing I have to remind me of ma and pa. I can't bring myself to open it, yet I can't bear to throw it away either."

'_If I recall correctly, inside that album is a bunch of family photos, but because Victoria always thought her parents didn't care for her at all, she was unhappy in every photo in that album…._

_I think I get it now, she found out the truth and was willing to forgive them, but then the fire happened. She can't open the album because she doesn't want to remember the bad times she had with the family, yet she can't toss it away because it reminds her of the first and only happy moment they had.'_

That picture that Kal currently had in his pocket could possibly be useful here.

"Let me open it for you…" Kal suggested

Victoria did nothing to stop hi, but didn't reply either.

Sure enough inside was photos of a younger Victoria.

She looked either sad or angry in each photo.

"Why couldn't I have smiled just once?" Victoria muttered

It seemed that she had something to say, so Kal paid close attention as Victoria flipped to the last photo.

"I didn't know i'd miss them so much, I wish I could have smiled just once in one of these pictures…"

Kal was right

Victoria's family album held nothing but reminders of the times when her parents purposely treated her coldly so that she wouldn't miss them if disaster struck.

Victoria didn't want to be reminded of those times, she wanted to remember the only good time she had.

The moment before the Elites showed up and she was forced to run, to run away as the house burned down.

'_Well then, guess its time for this._'

Kal took out the photo that was in his pocket and placed it in Victoria's view.

It was taken during that late candlelit dinner Victoria had with her parents, all three of them had reunited and were all very happy.

Victoria's eyes widened for a second, first she took a closer look at the photo, then looked at Kal, then back.

Kal still felt a bit embarrassed to have secretly taken a photo like this, so he looked away.

Victoria however was was more interested in why there was a photo in the first place.

"How? When did you take this?!" Victoria exclaimed

Kal scratched the back of his head as he still felt a bit embarrassed.

"Well you see, I thought that since you were leaving Octo Valley, you would want a souvenir of some kind, so we took that using the Hero suit's body camera."

As Kal spoke Victoria took a closer look at the photo.

To her it was perfect, she didn't mind the slight pixelation if you looked at it really closely, she didn't mind the slight lack of colour, it still captured the joy of that moment.

"But why? What gave you that idea?"

"Umm well, I looked through that album too with you and your father and I kinda noticed how you always looked sad in every photo you had, so I thought it would be a good idea to get a photo where you were smiling, I wasn't expecting something bad to happen right after so the picture is pretty bad-"

"Oh no this is fine, in fact it's perfect!"

Victoria's face lit up as she turned to face Kal, whose face was still turned away in embarrassment.

"Thank you so much!" Victoria exclaimed

Victoria would still feel sad about that night, the flames rising above her nostalgic home…. A scar like that would not heal.

She would still feel sad whenever she recalled those events.

But for now she had the most joyful expression Kal had ever seen before.

After that little burst of emotion, Victoria was pretty much back to normal, after once again thanking Kal, she added the photo into her family album.

Now in a much better mood, Victoria hugged Kal, then skipped over to see what they could have for dinner.

Kal didn't say much, but one thing was clear.

'_Well then, that worked out pretty well.'_

* * *

**Octo Canyon**

The reserve army was getting closer to their destination

Since they were already below Inkopolis, all they had to do was reach the designated spot and look for a way into Inkopolis Square.

However it was at that moment when the Elite leading the reserve army noticed a saucer approaching.

Curious, the reserve army stopped to see what was happening.

As the saucer landed, the Elite stepped forward to see who had come in such a hurry.

From the saucer came another Elite, and not one that was at Octo Canyon.

She had a message that could not be given through regular transmissions:

"You have been deceived, return to Octo Canyon immediately."

Back at camp, Claire's group was just within earshot of the captain and the messenger from Octo Valley.

They could hear the captain yelling.

"Why was the army not moved? You had gotten your orders days ago!"

"With all due respect captain, your authority was overwritten, aside from the regular army, the reserve army should also be coming back." the messenger; a regular Octoling spoke back to the captain calmly with a stern look in her eye.

"Who ordered this?!" the captain yelled, looking at the other four Elites, "Which one of you gave that order?!"

"Neither of them." came a voice from inside the saucer which had transported the messenger here.

That voice sent a chill down the captain's back, she knew that voice.

The voice of the one she deemed an incompetent leader, one who she hated.

From inside the saucer, Acting Leader Octavia disembarked along with dozens of other Elite Octolings….

They were all alive and well.

The captain was shocked

Octavia just grinned

"Surprised to see me?"

"How did-" the captain begun, but Octavia cut her off immediately.

"Seize her."

Almost immediately, the captain found herself surrounded by over two dozen Elite Octolings; colleagues, sisters in arms, but most importantly, the ones she had betrayed so save her own unit.

They couldn't shoot each other, so what followed was an unarmed brawl.

The captain was known to be an extraordinary fighter even amongst the Elite Octolings, but even she could not take on this many Elites at once.

The captain fought in vain, she had no way out of this, within a few moments she was captured, tied and brought before Octavia once again.

"You put up a decent fight i'll give you that." Octavia said mockingly

"How did you survive?" the captain asked, she had no way to fight now, so the only thing she could do was talk.

"I had no idea you were planning something like this, had everything gone normally that day you would have very much succeeded in replacing me."

"What do you mean normally?"

"That day, soon after you left I got word that a rather large group of Inklings had entered Octo Valley and were trying to make contact with us. So we stopped the meeting early to see what was going on, turns out Inkopolis wanted to hear our side of the story about the recent kidnappings and sent a delegation to negotiate with us."

'_I see, so they weren't in the meeting room when my troops splat bombed the room. Though there was no way we could have seen this coming.' the captain thought_

"Normally I would have called a saucer to fly by and pick off those Inklings, but we lost contact with Nautilus halfway through, I suspected that something must have happened, so we withdrew."

"So if you knew that something was up? Why did you wait until now to show yourself?" the captain asked

"We will have plenty of time to talk about that later."

Octavia turned to the other Elites standing by.

"Go now, capture every last member of the captain's splatoon."

As soon as they heard this, Claire's group scattered and ran.


	20. The Enemy of My Enemy

**Octo Canyon**

It was chaos for the followers of the now captured captain.

The few members who were with Claire had scattered to tell the rest of them that Acting Leader Octavia was alive and coming after them.

They had no idea what to do now, without the captain leading them what would happen now that it was revealed that they had tried to splat the Acting Leader?

The saucer that Octavia arrived in flew overhead, followed by a loud booming voice, it was broadcasting a message to everyone in Octo Canyon.

"ATTENTION ALL OCTARIANS! YOU HAVE BEEN DECEIVED, THE ACTING LEADER IS ALIVE, ALL OCTARIANS ARE TO PACK UP AND RETURN TO OCTO VALLEY. A COUP D'ETAT WAS ATTEMPTED BY THE 202ND SPLATOON, WE HAVE THEIR LEADER, ANYONE ELSE WHO IS A MEMBER OF THE 202ND IS TO SURRENDER TO THE NEAREST ELITE OCTOLING OR TO THE RESERVE ARMY. REPEAT, ALL OCTARIANS ARE TO RETURN TO OCTO VALLEY, ANYONE WHO IS A MEMBER OF THE 202ND IS TO SURRENDER TO THE NEAREST ELITE OCTOLING OR TO THE RESERVE ARMY."

They had two choices laid in front of them.

Run away into a world dominated by their mortal enemies, or surrender and face the judgement of their own race.

Claire didn't even stop to listen, she and many others never stopped running, Lynn included.

They had put a lot of distance between them and Octo Canyon, finally they stopped for a break and to discuss what to do now.

"We can't go back now, I say we hightail it far from here and never come back." one Octoling suggested

"Where could we go? Staying down here means to risk getting caught by the army, but heading to the surface means we will probably get captured by Inklings." An Octotrooper wondered

"Perhaps it's best that we surrender and hope that Octavia forgives us?" another suggested

"That's impossible, we just tried to splat her a few days ago, no way she'd forgive that."

"I say we keep running."

While the others argued, Claire had already made her choice, silently, she left the group.

"Claire? Where are you going?" Lynn asked

"I'm going back to Octo Canyon."

She blamed herself for not reaching the captain in time.

"You are surrendering?"

"Yes, if I had warned the captain earlier then she wouldn't have gotten caught, besides as the camp adjutant I must stay with the captain at all times."

Claire felt that for her failure, she should at least see the captain off.

There were others who felt the same way.

"If you are going, then I will too" an Octotrooper joined Claire

"So will I." came the voice of another Octotrooper

"Me too" an Octoling joined in

However not everyone was on board with this idea.

"Have you all lost your minds?!" another Octotrooper yelled

"If you all go back, you'll be executed for treason against the state." an Octoling pointed out

"Yes exactly, so we should keep running and hide somewhere."

Lynn kept listening and watching as the two groups argued

Claire and one half wanted to go back and surrender

The other half wanted to run and hide

Without someone like the captain leading them, the splatoon had already fallen into disarray.

'If we go back, Octavia might have mercy on us."

"No way, the captain didn't trust Octavia at all, so you shouldn't either, you guys can go back, we are leaving!"

As they splatoon debated on what to do, they started getting roused up, it looked like there would be infighting at any moment.

"Fine then, you go hide in some hole for the rest of your life, we will stay by the captain's side till the end."

In the end, half the 202nd splatoon went into hiding, while another half went to surrender.

Lynn was left alone, standing where the 202nd had split up.

Claire and the others drew further and further away.

"Wait Claire!" Lynn called out

Claire stopped to hear her out, leaving the rest of the surrendering group to walk on ahead.

"What should I do now?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"I don't know what to do and how can you give up so easily?"

"Because I believed in the captain and I failed her, whatever punishment Octavia has got planned I should be a part of it." Claire didn't even need to think about it, she already had her reasons lined up.

Lynn always wondered how she could decide so quickly, it somewhat amazed her.

"What about your family, they need you."

"There is no way I can help them now, they will need to survive on their own.."

Cold as it may seem, Claire knew that the moment Octavia gave them that suicide mission, that she could no longer help her family. If they had followed Octavia's orders they would be splatted and her family would have no one capable of working, and now whether or not she runs or surrenders, the result is the same.

Claire started walking again.

"Hold on! I should come with you." Lynn said, running after her

"Don't"

"?"

Claire could see it, Lynn might be agreeing to come with her, but she didn't want to surrender to Octavia, she was afraid of being punished, but she was also afraid of living in the wild on her own.

"I've said it before, if you believe in what we are doing, then don't follow along."

"But what else can I do?"

"Don't ask me, now is your time to choose, you can hide or surrender…."

Lynn had nothing to say

She couldn't choose between those two

"...or maybe, find another solution."

"Like what?" Lynn looked at Claire expecting her to come up with something, however Claire had no other idea.

"I don't know, i've already made my choice, don't worry, you'll have some time to think while Octavia is dealing with us, goodbye now, I was glad to have served with you Lynn."

Even though Claire was ranked higher than Lynn, she still saluted her before leaving for Octo Canyon.

Lynn watched as her friend travelled off.

'_You keep telling me to choose this and that, but it's really not that easy for me!'_

"Sigh" Lynn sat on the ground clutching her knees.

What was there to do now?

'_I can't just run, I won't be able to survive on my own. I can't surrender either, i'll be executed for treason.'_

Lynn couldn't choose, she anxiously drew circles in the dirt with her finger while trying to come up with a decision.

'_Maybe I could blend in and live in Octo Valley under an alias?_

_Maybe I could find the others who ran and live with them?'_

She was trying to come up with a third choice

'_Maybe I can make a deal with the army to help find the others?' _she even considered selling out her colleagues but couldn't actually do it, she wasn't the type to only look out for herself.

'_Maybe I can make a deal with someone else..'_

Lynn stood up

She might have found a solution.

'_Octo Valley was split into two, just as Claire said and right now Octavia's side is winning, in order to turn the tables I need to bring in a third side to whittle down Octavia's side._

_Madison, Claire and I…. we made a deal with an Inkling before, maybe I can do so again.'_

Lynn walked in the direction of Octo Valley, but not to the undercity or to any of the kettles.

She headed for the shack outside the manhole to Inkopolis.

'_I hope the New Squidbeak Splatoon is in a good mood today.'_

* * *

Meanwhile back at Octo Canyon, the main army had arrived, the civilians were being rounded up and the tents and other temporary lodgings were being packed up.

In a less busy corner sat a Octavia's saucer, every now and then an Elite Octoling or two would come by and make a report.

Inside the saucer wasn't just Octavia, but the captured captain as well, she sat quietly still wearing her Elite Octoling gear, bound to a seat with her arms, legs and tentacles all tied up so that she could not possibly move.

She could hear someone talking in the distance

"Acting leader, we captured around half of the 202nd splatoon now, but the others must have fled."

"Then keep looking for them, and tell the Reserve army to make up for their mistake and bring the civilians back to Octo Valley."

"Yes ma'am"

This was followed by footsteps, Octavia's footsteps.

The captain found herself alone with Acting Leader Octavia inside the saucer.

If she hadn't been tied up so well she would have beaten her down easily, she was sure of it.

For now, all they could do was talk

"You got lucky this time, but it doesn't matter, there will always be more like me."

Octavia just laughed, the captain's words were nothing more than the cry of a loser.

"And what makes you think that? Even if one or two of your subordinates get away, there is nothing they can do to oppose me."

"You are really clueless aren't you, those Octarians chose to do this because you were going to order them on a suicide mission. If you keep making decisions like that, then it won't be long before more and more of the Octarian army start choosing to disobey you."

Octavia however pounded the seat next to the captain, then brought her face really close to the captain's with a menacing look on her face.

"No, you are the one who is clueless, you don't seem to understand the situation here at all. Octavio is gone, his rule is nothing but a distant memory. You have no idea how many years I spent working my way up to be his second in command so I could rule after he eventually fell."

The captain however, was unfazed by Octavia's words.

"So you don't care about Octavio at all, then I won't need to worry at all, especially since the other Elites will rescue him someday."

"You really are stupid, do you think I would allow that?"

"The Elites are loyal to Octavio, not you." The captain said, basically repeating what the Elites told her while she was in charge.

"No, that won't ever happen, I am the new Octavio, the new leader of the Octarians and I will not be stopped by anyone, not by you, or Octavio, or the Elites, or the Inklings or anyone else! This is my time, my era and anyone who follows in your footsteps will be put down will full force." Octavia declared, since no other Octarian was within earshot she wasn't afraid of anyone overhearing her.

'_She finally said it.'_ the captain thought '_She just wants to rule Octo Valley.'_

Now it was the captain's turn to laugh

"Haha, If that's what you think, then you are even more stupid than I thought."

What a rebellious captain, continuing to insult her even after being captured instead of begging for forgiveness. Octavia couldn't hold herself back and delivered a powerful punch to the captain's face.

But that only shut her up for a brief moment.

With a smug look on her now bruising face, the captain continued to mock Octavia's leadership

"The Octarians who followed me did so out of faith, they knew I had their best interests in mind. but you-"

Her voice was cut off by the sound of another punch connecting to her face, the captain grunted then continued

"You make them follow you out of fear, that means no matter what you do they will never trust you as they trust me, someday they will rise up against you."

The captain let out another laugh, before receiving another blow to the face

"Well then, it looks like I don't need to do anything, your downfall is guaranteed. I hope I get a front row seat to watch it when the time comes."

Octavia stopped her assault on the captain and laughed back

She had an idea, a way to make sure this smug traitor wouldn't get the last laugh.

"Hehe, I don't see how that will be possible, considering how you will be executed tomorrow along with all of your subordinates that we've captured…"

The captain's smile disappeared from her face.

She knew she would face execution and readied herself for it, but to execute all her followers was too much.

"No, I the commanding officer, should be the one to receive punishment for forcing the 202nd to rebel." The captain's tone changed entirely, she wasn't going to provoke Octavia any further if the lives of her troops were at stake.

"Oh? But didn't you just say that they all chose to follow you? That makes each of them as guilty as you are."

"I may have embellished a few details, I'm the one at fault here so my execution will be enough."

"You aren't in a position to decide that anymore, Vale."

'_Vale' _Nobody had ever called the captain by name since she had finished her Elite Octoling training and attained the rank of captain.

Addressing someone by rank was a sign of respect, she had been so well respected to the point where everyone would address her as captain.

But to an Acting Leader, a captain was far below her.

Octavia knew the captain treasured her title and so proceeded to drive another emotional blade into her.

"Now that you've commited such a grave crime, I'm afraid you've lost whatever achievements you've earned during your time in the army." Octavia continued "As if today, you are no longer a captain of the Octarian army, but an ordinary Octoling, do you understand, citizen Emily Vale."

After stripping the captain of her rank, Octavia looked pleased, and she left the captain to see to the captured Octarians.

The captain, now completely alone felt worse than ever.

Not only had she doomed all those good Octarians following her, but she was also the only one who knew about Octavia's true agenda.

Her execution would come soon and with it, any hope for Octo Valley to be freed of this corrupt leader would be lost…

But she had no hope left, her subordinates were too few in number to rescue her, after all they had already lost many Octarians fighting the New Squidbeak Splatoon at Melanin and Agent 3 at Octavio's boss kettle. What remained of the 202nd wasn't much more than 90 Octarians and half of them had already been captured.

Silently, the now former captain could only accept her fate: she would be executed with her title and rank stripped away, and she would die a traitor, no one would ever know why she rebelled.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

Cap'n Craig Cuttlefish

To the majority of the Inklings he was an old man who kept up with today's fashions, yet would not let go of past problems.

To the New Squidbeak Splatoon, he was kinda odd at times, yet was dependable.

As for the Octarians, he was the biggest threat to Octavio, reason unspecified.

That is why Lynn chose to approach with extreme caution.

She had spent all night trekking to the Cap'n's home from Octo Canyon, she was tired and hungry, but she had more important matters to worry about.

She probably should have left her Octoshot behind, but she kept it with her because she was afraid, she trembled on her way to Cap'n Cuttlefish's home. Holding a weapon in her hands was to help ease off the fear, but it had other consequences.

Cap'n Cuttlefish often kept an eye out of Octarian activity, so he easily spotted Lynn approaching.

If she had come with a group of Octarians, Cuttlefish would have fled.

However she was alone and Cuttlefish knew that Octarian scouts would not be out in the open like that.

So Cuttlefish quickly raised his old Bamboozler, which he now used as a walking stick and took aim.

Lynn had not expected Cuttlefish to have a weapon, so she was surprised when a warning shot passed by.

The bamboozler left a trail of blue ink behind it, but Lynn didn't waste time to look, instead she quickly backed away out of range.

Meanwhile Cuttlefish quickly messaged the three agents to come by, all while keeping his guard up.

Bamboozlers could fire quickly, but could not hold its charge nor splat in one hit, but it did outrange the Octoshot Lynn was using.

Lynn realised that approaching Inkopolis in full Octoling armor while armed was probably not the best idea.

Out of the Bamboozler's range, Lynn pondered what to do now.

Of course that just gave time for Inker to arrive, having just changed to his hero suit.

Lynn's eyes went wide when she saw who had just arrived.

"_Agent 3!? Didn't he get splatted?'_

Lynn dreaded to face Agent 3 in battle, the one who was supposedly invincible and fought dozens of Octarians by himself, the fact that he stood here even after reportedly being splatted made the rumor of his invincibility even more plausible.

Since Lynn wasn't here to fight in the first place she decided to take a chance and talk.

She tossed her Octoshot away and raised her arms in surrender, prompting Agent 3 to close the distance and see what was up.

"Why are you attacking us alone?" Inker asked

"I-I wasn't, well I understand that it probably looked like I was, b-but honestly I was here to talk." Lynn's voice was still a bit shaky from fear, seeing Agent 3 so close didn't help.

"To talk?"

"Y-Yes, it's probably wrong for me to ask, since we recently squidnapped a bunch of your people but please."

Lynn prostrated herself before Agent 3.

"Please save my splatoon."

Inker was confused, he hadn't done anything recently that would put any Octarians in danger.

"Save them? But from who?"

"The other Octarians."

"?!"

That was something Inker never thought he would hear.

He looked at Cuttlefish, who appeared to be curious.

"I don't understand, why would a splatoon of Octarians need help from me?" Inker asked

"Well umm, we disobeyed orders and went against the acting leader." Lynn clasped her hands together as if to beg and bowed "I'm prepared to offer anything in return, so please go and save my splatoon."

"Uhh"

Inker wasn't sure what to do, sure he felt like he should help all the sea creatures he could, Octarian or not but this whole ordeal seemed fishy.

"Hold on, you are leaving out a lot of important details, first off why did you disobey orders and where is your splatoon now?"

"We were supposed to fly into Inkopolis Plaza and attack, but our captain thought it was suicide, so instead we tried to get rid of the acting leader okay."

Another unexpected event.

"Wait hold on, you guys were planning an air attack on Inkopolis?"

"Yes, so technically we saved you the trouble of fighting us by choosing to oppose the acting leader."

"Where is your splatoon now?"

Lynn sheepishly scratched her head.

"Umm, I don't know."

"Then how am I supposed to save them?"

"Well umm, I thought that maybe you could find them, you found Melanin so easily back then."

Back then it was because Victoria was there, but Victoria wasn't in Octo Valley anymore.

Not that Inker could say that.

'_Oh right! If anyone can clear stuff up about the Octarians, its an Octarian from Octo Valley!'_

"Hang on a second"

Inker took out his squid phone and dialed Kal's number, hopefully Victoria could shed some light on what was happening.

"Hello?" came Kal's voice

"Sup Kal, is Victoria feeling better? I need to talk to her quickly."

"Yeah sure, hang on."

The sound of Kal calling out to Victoria and the phone switching hands could be heard, then Victoria's voice came over the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi Victoria, it's me Inker, I need to ask a few things about Octo Valley."

Victoria gave a confused "hmm?" sound then said "okay shoot."

"Before you left, did you hear of any plan to overthrow the Octoling replacing Octavio?"

"Nope, there's never been anything like that before. Octarian on Octarian violence hadn't been committed in centuries. Why are you asking?"

"I'm at Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack right now, and there's an Octoling here who is begging me to save her splatoon from the rest of the Octarians."

"That sounds very suspicious, ask her which splatoon exactly, and who is their commanding officer."

"Commanding officer?"

"Their leader…"

Inker turned his attention away from his phone and too Lynn.

"Which splatoon are you from, and who was leading you?" Inker asked Lynn

"It was the 202nd combat group and our commanding officer is usually just referred to as captain, but her name was Emily Vale." Lynn seemed anxious to get help and quickly answered everything without hesitation.

Inker brought the phone back to his ear,

"She says she was part of the 202nd splatoon or something, and that they were lead by a captain named Emily Vale."

"Emily Vale? I never heard that name before, but I know that the 202nd was the splatoon that was guarding Melanin prison when you went to rescue Kal. They were lead by a captain too and a well respected one at that, in fact she was so well respected no one ever addressed her by name so I don't know it either."

"Did she have any reason to go against the other Octarians?"

"No, from what I heard she was pretty much like the other Elites, loyal to Octo Valley and hates Inklings, I did also hear that she was a very strong individual, but I doubt anyone would try to overthrow the acting leader. I think you should be careful, it all sounds like a trap, maybe the 202nd is trying to lure you into a trap as revenge for Melanin prison."

"Yeah I think so too, thanks."

"Your welcome…." There was another voice in the background "Oh and Kal says if you need help, don't be afraid to ask."

"Thanks but I don't think I'll need it."

"Are you sure? Cause when you went to Melanin alone you ended up in big trouble."

"I'm sure thanks, goodbye."

As soon as Inker hung up, Lynn spoke.

"Well?" she asked, eyes full of hope that Agent 3 might help out.

"You were the ones guarding Melanin prison right?."

Lynn nodded

"So then why would you turn against the other Octarians."

"I told you, we would have been sent on a suicide mission!"

"Why is a splatoon of prison guards getting orders from the army?"

"We are part of the army! Melanin was a military prison since technically the Inklings we captured were prisoners of war…." Lynn's voice trailed off as she spoke

"And what about the captain you referred to, she's an Elite Octoling right? Aren't they all loyal to Octo Valley?"

"Yes! But she thought that the Acting Leader wasn't doing any good for the Valley!"

"I'm sorry but this is just way too suspicious, in the first place I never heard of an entire Splatoon of Octarians trying to take over the rest of Octo Valley."

"I know it sounds strange, yes I questioned it myself while taking part, but it's the truth I swear! Why would I risk coming here if I was just going to lie?"

"Because maybe you are trying to lure me into a trap?"

Lynn's heart sank, Agent 3 didn't trust her at all, not that he had any reason too.

But he and the New Squidbeak Splatoon were the only ones she knew, that could help out. Lynn had prepared to offer anything in return, but perhaps it wasn't enough?

Still, she had to get help no matter what.

"No im not lying! If that was I would know where to go!"

"And how do I know that your splatoon isn't actually hiding nearby, ready to pounce the moment I step further into Octo Valley?"

"There is no one with me I promise! Here." Lynn grabbed the barrel of Inker's Hero Shot and pressed it against her chest.

"You can follow me into Octo Valley, if anyone tries to attack you then splat me right away!"

Inker however lowered his Hero shot the moment Lynn let go of it and turned away.

"Sorry I can't."

Inker walked away, but Lynn grabbed him by the arm and held him close, not wanting to let go of the only hope for her splatoon.

"Please help me out! I'm begging you, I'm telling the truth! my splatoon needs help and you are the only one who can do it!" at this point she was kneeling and begging for help

"Can you please let go of me, I told you it sounds too fishy."

Inker was still reluctant to go, but he had to admit, this ponytailed Octoling was very convincing.

Aside from that, it felt wrong to ignore someone who was literally on their knees pleading for aid.

Part of him wanted to go, turning down this pitiful looking girl was really hurting his conscience, but going by experience and logic it only made sense not to help one's enemy.

"Sorry but its just all too strange, in the first place I've never heard of an Octoling coming to make deals with an Inkling."

"Ah!" Lynn exclaimed as she recalled her previous deal with Kal at Melanin prison.

She called out to Agent 3 once more "Wait! This isn't the first time I tried making a deal with an Inkling, there was another, one at Melanin prison! A red Inkling! He was one of your friends right? Call him! Ask him about me, my name is Lynn! He should remember that name. I was one of three Octolings who gave him the map of Melanin!"

'_A red Inkling, who else could that be but Kal.'_

If she hadn't gotten Kal's colour correct Inker would have ignored her.

"Sigh, alright sure."

Inker once again dialed Kal's number.

"Hello?"

"Hi Kal."

"Did you forget to say something? I'll get Victoria."

"No not this time, I have something to ask you, did you meet an Octoling named Lynn at Melanin Prison?"

"Yeah, she was one of the three who gave me the map, what about it?"

"What does she look like?"

"I don't really remember, she was pretty much the average Octoling, oh but she did her hair in a ponytail. Why are you asking?"

"There is an Octoling here at Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack who calls herself Lynn and she's saying that she wants my help with rescuing the other Melanin prison guards."

"That's odd."

"I know right?"

"Hold on, i'll go over there now and see if she looks familiar."

"No there's no need" Inker began, but Kal hung up before he could finish.

"What did he say?" Lynn asked hopefully

"I think he's coming here, so just wait a moment."

"I can't, if we don't hurry we may not be able to rescue them in time!"

"Just wait, it doesn't take long to get to Inkopolis plaza anyways."

Kalus passed through the manhole shortly after, for some reason Victoria had chosen to follow.

Kal wasn't armed with anything, but Victoria was holding Kal's Splattershot.

As soon as Lynn saw Kal she waved

"Hey! Remember me from Melanin!? Me and my colleagues gave you that map!"

Kal recognised Lynn easily

"Yeah I remember." Kal turned to Inker "Yeah I met her once in Melanin."

"Okay then… Alright I guess I can take a look."

"Hold on!" Victoria cut in

"What?" Inker asked

"I want to know why the 202nd and its leader, who was known to be one of the best Elites tried to rebel against Octo Valley." Victoria said, staring at Lynn

"I'll explain it later, right now I just need help, who are you anyways? Another agent?"

In response, Victoria removed the helmet covering her tentacles, revealing to Lynn that she was also an Octoling.

"You! I remember meeting you at Nautilus! You were a spy for the Inklings?!" Lynn exclaimed

"I'm not a spy! And i'm not here because I have a choice okay, just making that clear."

"What do you mean? An Octoling living in Inkopolis? Since when was that a thing?"

"I'm here because I returned a favor and now im labelled as a traitor okay, now you tell me; why did your splatoon go rogue?"

"We didn't, we just planned to splat all the high ranking Octolings because Octavia was going to send us off on a suicide trip to Inkopolis."

"You really can't blame them if you did something like that."

At this point the conversation had gone on for so long that even Callie and Marie had time to arrive.

As usual, both were wearing their own hero suits, and held their respective hero weapons.

"What's going on gramps?" Callie asked then both she and Marie noticed Lynn.

"Who is that?" Marie wondered

Callie looked at Victoria "A friend of yours?"

"No, I don't know who she is, but apparently she's a traitor to Octo Valley." Victoria replied

"Says the traitor…"

"Who said that!?"

"Anyways" Lynn interrupted lowering herself once more, "Please help my splatoon, I don't care which one of you does it, nor if you don't manage to save everyone, just please do something!"

"What is she talking about?" Marie asked Inker

"Apparently her splatoon tried to overthrow the current leader of the Octarians."

"Well then shouldn't we leave this to the Octarian justice system?"

"No you can't!" Lynn said "What we did was high treason!"

"So? If you commit a crime you should expect to face consequences."

"We didn't have a choice, it was either that or follow orders and land in Inkopolis Plaza, it was suicide!"

That changed Callie and Marie's view of things pretty quickly.

"I still don't understand why you are in a hurry though, if you don't know where they are, why not give it a while until we find out what prison they are held in?"

To Inker, Callie, Marie and any other Inkling, there was no such thing as a death penalty, even though Kal and Inker had heard about it once before, they still didn't know who would be punished that way.

Luckily Lynn wasn't the only one who understood the Octarians.

"It's not like that." Victoria interjected "What they did was far worse than me telling you where Kal and the others were taken, so it is extremely likely that all the members of the 202nd splatoon will be executed for their crimes as soon as possible."

Lynn nodded

"Why didn't you mention that earlier!?" Inker exclaimed

"I thought it was obvious enough, is it not the same in Inkopolis?"

"No! Not at all! Anyways I guess you really are telling the truth and to be honest, I wanted to help you but I was just a bit suspicious."

"We will come along too." Callie said, referring to her and Marie

"There's really no need, I can handle this."

"That's what you thought last time, and the time before that and you ended up in big trouble both times, don't worry we don't mind helping out." Marie pointed out

"Yeah you can depend on us! After all we are kinda like your superiors, so don't be afraid to rely on us." Callie added

"Well okay then." Inker turned to Victoria one more time "Lynn doesn't know where her splatoon is, do you have any idea where they could be?"

"Well if they were going to be publicly executed they'd do it in the undercity, but if not, then they will probably just do it anywhere that is out of sight from anyone."

"In other words we need to search all of Octo Valley?"

"Umm, actually we were in Octo Canyon when we were caught, so maybe somewhere in between Octo Valley and Octo Canyon?" Lynn added

'_Octo Canyon?'_

"That's still a large area to cover, alright then since we have no other idea where to look we will start there."

"Thank you so much! As promised I will do anything you ask in return."

Cuttlefish, Victoria and Kal watched as Lynn left with all three agents to search of the 202nd splatoon.

* * *

**Somewhere along the border of Octo Valley and Octo Canyon**

In the middle of nowhere, far from any sort of Octarian civilization, several Octarian saucers landed. One contained Octavia, two Elite Octolings and the former captain, the others contained the captured members of her splatoon.

"Captain…." Claire said as she, along with many other Octarians were brought together.

"Not captain, it's just Emily now." Octavia corrected the Octoling.

It had been quite some time, the reserve army and a few troops from the regular army had brought them here, in the middle of nowhere.

Octavia and a few other Elites had also landed their saucer here and brought out the captured captain.

Unlike before, the captain no longer had seaweed on her head, her face was bruised from the beating she received from Octavia and she had her arms and tentacles tied up, but her legs were not, allowing her to walk along. Probably knowing that the captain would try to fight if she was untied, Octavia and the other Elite Octolings didn't bother to change her out of her Octoling gear.

The captain, who was always strong and dependable, was now the very image of a defeated soldier.

Actually, she wasn't even a captain anymore.

She was now nothing but a regular Octoling, who's name held no power.

"Claire… all of you, why are you all here?" the captain asked as soon as she saw her former subordinates all tied in similar fashion.

"Sorry captain, it was my fault, I was going to tell you that something was up, but I was too late." Claire hung her head in shame. "Therefore I could not bear to let you suffer Octavia's judgement alone."

"Not captain! And refer to me by rank!" Octavia shouted again

They were being lined up, with the former captain in front.

Octavia ordered the reserve army troops away to help bring everyone back to Octo Valley, while the two Elite Octolings along with the troops from the regular army started setting up Octosniper positions.

When they were done, four Octosnipers took position, they were not coloured the same as the regular army.

They would be the ones to execute the traitors.

As for Octavia and the two Elites accompanying her, they stood by to watch.

A group of Octotroopers watched the captives who were all kneeled on the ground with their tentacles and arms tied.

Two Octolings brought the former captain into position, in front of the Octosnipers.

Having already accepted fate, the former captain did nothing to resist.

Like the Octosnipers, the Octolings and Octotroopers watching the captives were not coloured the same as the regular army, that way they could splat the captain and her subordinates, but would not get splatted incase an Octosniper missed and hit them on accident.

From a safe position, Octavia spoke to the captain.

"Emily Vale, the attempted assassination of the Elite Octolings falls under the act of high treason against the Octarian race, along with that are acts of insubordination by disobeying direct orders from me, Octo Valley's Acting Leader."

The captain stayed silent as she watched Octavia give her verdict

"For committing these treacherous acts during a time of war, I as Acting Leader of Octo Valley sentence you and your subordinates to death, sentence to be carried out immediately."

Not exactly a fair trial.

The captain could do nothing but stare into the weapons of the four Octosnipers.

"Firing squad take aim." Octavia commanded

However as the Octosnipers charged for a shot, someone walked in front of the captain.

It was Claire, with her arms still tied together.

"Claire?"

She wasn't alone, a few more of the captain's captured subordinates also stood up and joined Claire.

Together they formed a wall around their trusted captain.

"Hey! Get them away from there!" Octavia yelled.

The two Octolings holding the captain in place tried to push Claire and the others away but to no avail.

The Octotroopers couldn't do much either, since they lacked arms.

Those who were not standing between the captain and the Octosnipers were still kneeling on the ground, but they watched with curiosity, wondering what their colleagues were doing.

"All of you, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry about us captain." Claire said

"She isn't a captain anymore, get back in line!" Octavia shouted

"Yes i'm not a captain anymore, just go back and wait your turn." the former captain added, having already accepted her fate.

"It doesn't matter, it was you who lead us against the Salmonids, you who lead us at Melanin prison, and you who we trusted with our lives. Regardless of what happens you will always be our captain."

One by one, the other captured Octarians standing with Claire shouted.

"Captain!"

"Captain!"

The Octarians who were still kneeling in line stood up, even though their tentacles and arms were tied, one by one they still stood up straight as if to salute their commanding officer one last time.

"Captain!"

"Captain!"

"Captain!"

The Octosnipers were sure what to do, since now there was a wall of Octarians between them and their target: the former captain.

The two Elites accompanying Octavia also seemed to be at a loss, they looked at her expecting a command.

"What are you all doing!? Take care of this rebellious lot!" Octavia shouted

"Even if you say that, they are surprisingly resilient." an Elite commented

"Whatever! Forget executing them in order! Just shoot everyone!" Octavia commanded, and immediately, the Octosnipers started firing wildly at the wall of Octarians protecting the former captain.

What was supposed to be an orderly execution turned into a disorganised mess.

The subordinates of the captain were splatted one by one, yet each of them looked satisfied, as if they had no regrets.

As for Claire, she looked into the former captain face one last time.

She could see that she was touched by their act of loyalty.

"Everyone… thank you, I'm humbled to have served with you all." the captain said.

More and more Octarians were splatted

Claire didn't even need to turn around to know what was happening.

The wall they had formed around the captain was getting smaller and smaller.

Their end was near.

"Captain!" Claire said "You were right, Octavia isn't nearly as good of a leader as Octavio, she will pay for this someday. Know that when that day comes, the Octarians will look back and realize that what we did here was not a treasonous act, but an act for the good of our race. That is the day when they will remember us not as traitors, but as heroes."

She could hear her comrades getting splatted, she felt some ink splatter on her back, meaning that whoever was standing behind her had just been shot.

She was next.

Claire took a deep breath and with all her might she shouted at the top of her lungs

"WE WILL BE REMEMBERED!"

It was the last thing she would ever say.

The former captain watched as her loyal adjutant was splatted by shots meant for her.

There was no one left standing between her and the Octosnipers.

'_What a loyal bunch, placing themselves in the way of my execution just to show their allegiance, I was truly blessed to have lead them.'_

Silently, the former captain thanked Claire and all her other subordinates for their loyalty, their service, their determination and sacrifice.

Even though she had accepted her execution the moment she was caught, they still came back to see her off at the cost of their lives.

And when she was to be executed, they placed themselves in the way of the shots meant for her.

'_How touching.'_

The captain felt as if she might cry for the first time in her life.

'_Might as well since there's nothing left for me, it was a good run…'_

The former captain smiled as she stared down the three Octosnipers

Any moment now they would shoot, there would be a loud sound and then she would be splatted, no not splatted, be reunited with everyone else.

'_Wait, three?'_

One Octosniper had vanished.

The former captain heard the sound of a weapon firing, but strangely she was not splatted.

A second Octosniper had vanished, as for the remaining two, they were being ran down by a twin tailed girl with a roller.

Confused, the captain looked around.

And to her surprise she saw the three agents of the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

Agent 1 was rolling over the Octosnipers with her hero roller

Agent 2 had splatted the two Octolings holding her with extreme precision.

And Agent 3 had somehow returned from the dead to splat the Octotroopers who were shooting her other subordinates.

"Heh"

'_Thank you, everyone who stood between me and the firing squad, you tossed away your futures to buy me a little more time to live, I swear that I shall repay your loyalty to me by avenging you all.'_

"Captain! Are you alright!?" came the familiar voice on an Octoling.

Lynn had arrived and quickly untied the captain's arms and tentacles.

The captain felt her wrists, they were numb after being held together with rope for the past day, she was free, free to take revenge.

She ignored Agent 3, who was saying something to her.

She ignored Lynn who was asking if she was okay.

She grabbed an Octoshot from one of Octavia's fallen Octolings and ran after her.

* * *

"Quickly Acting Leader, you must evacuate!"

Octavia and the two Elites ran back to their saucer.

However coming at them was a vengeful captain.

As the saucer took off the captain leapt on board at the last moment.

"Octavia you coward! Come and face me!"

However before she could splat anyone her weapon was pushed away by the two Elites accompanying Octavia.

No matter, she could fight just as well without any weapons.

The Elites tried to splat her with their own Octoshots, but the captain wasn't affected since she had the same ink colour as them, before long the captain managed to disarm them both.

Then it became a wild melee, however the captain excelled at this too, the two Elites tried to hit her from both sides, but the captain went back and forth hitting them in various places.

She elbowed one of them, kicked the other and pushed herself back towards the other.

Everytime an Elite went for a weapon she would tackle them out of the way.

Octavia however opened the saucer's doors.

As the captain was distracted for a millisecond to see what Octavia had just did one of the Elites put her in a chokehold.

She wasn't worried however, as she knew how to easily break free, however she hadn't expected the Elite to throw herself out of the saucer while still holding on to her.

The captain and an Elite Octoling fell out and hit the ground.

Both stood back up immediately and fought again, the captain had no difficulty beating the Elite Octoling on her own.

With nothing but anger and revenge on her mind, the captain's hands clamped down on the Elite Octoling's neck, who helplessly clawed back at the captain, gasping for breath.

The captain would not yield, not when she had just seen her troops get slaughtered. The Elite Octoling tried to speak and plead for her life, but could not say a word, finally she went silent and the captain let go.

With that done the captain could only stare at Octavia's saucer, flying off into the distance.

"Dammit!"

"Captain?"

Running up to her was Lynn.

The captain recognized the Octoling from her splatoon.

"You, what did you do? Why are there Inklings with you?"

"I had to make a choice, they were the only ones who could get here in time and beat back the army."

"Yes I see that but still, enlisting the aid of Inklings is absurd! Who knows what they will demand in return."

"Just leave that to me, I begged them for aid and promised i'd do anything I could to repay them, but I never mentioned anything from you or anyone else. So I shall submit myself to them."

"You won't need to worry about that."

Agent 3 and the others caught up too.

They were followed by the few Octarians who hadn't gotten executed earlier.

It was the first time that the captain saw Agent 3 up close.

From reports she knew that Agent 3 was a somewhat short blue male Inkling, but she hadn't guessed that Agent 3 would be a kid.

'_He's much younger than expected, I thought for sure that someone with his abilities would have to be a more experienced individual.'_

"Agent 3…. you should be dead, I saw you get splatted in the Octobot's lair." The captain felt like splatting Agent 3 now, for the sake of all Octarians, but he had just saved her from execution, so maybe she'd spare him this once.

Not that she wanted to be rescued after seeing all those loyal Octarians get splatted in front of her.

"Heh, well I guess im full of surprises."

"Hmph, well then I suppose I should ask what you expect to gain out of this."

"Well nothing really."

"Don't lie, why else would you help an Octarian officer like me?"

"I don't know, Lynn was pretty desperate for help and the enemy of my enemy is my friend, I guess?"

"Pfft, if we went by that logic then you'd be allied with those zombie Octarains from the deepsea metro."

Standing behind Inker, Marie couldn't tolerate this captain's arrogant behavior anymore.

"Hey we came out here to save you despite being enemies, don't you have anything else to say?"

"If you are asking for my gratitude you have it, but that does not mean I need to like you Inklings."

Marie and the captain stared each other now for a moment before Callie and Lynn pried the two away from each other.

The captain gestured her surviving troops to follow, Lynn included as she went back to the spot where she was to be executed.

"Well then, i'm going back for the remains of those splatted before your arrival, you have no more business here, so leave." the captain said as she walked further away from the agents.

"Jeez, what is with that attitude Emily? Why do you hate us in the first place?" Inker asked

'_What a dumb question, it should be obvious why we hate the Inklings so much.' _the captain thought

'_Huh? Strange…'_

For some reason her mind went blank when she tried to remember why she hated Inklings.

Was there never a reason to begin with?

'_No, impossible, nobody would feel so much anger on sight of the Inklings if they didn't have a reason for it. I must simply be tired.'_

Since she couldn't reply to Inker's question she simply said:

"Call me Emily again and i'll tear you apart."

Octavia calling her by name was irritating enough, now some random Inkling was doing it too, guess he probably heard it from Lynn.

The captain left without another word, followed by the remaining soldiers of the 202nd who were not in hiding.

They had some work to do, identifying all those who were splatted earlier.

* * *

As they went through the piles of Octoling armor and Octotrooper hovercrafts, Lynn picked up a pair of goggles which had belonged to someone she knew.

A quick look at the recording from the goggles revealed that it belonged to Claire.

She knew it, when Claire said goodbye, she must have known she wasn't going to make it.

Lynn kneeled in front of a splotch of ink that was once Claire.

"Well I did it... I chose…. Tell me, did I make the right choice?" Lynn paused and gazed at the puddle of ink, as if expecting an answer.

'_If only I had gotten here sooner.'_

She collected Claire's goggles.

Normally nobody would care if anyone died, it was common in Octo Valley, but Lynn realised she would miss Claire, just like how she missed Madison, they were her friends in the Octarian army, the three had enlisted together, she and Madison ended up as regular Octolings, while Claire ranked up quicker and was the most capable out of them.

Lynn thought for sure that out of the three, Claire would have survived the longest.

Yet here she was, nothing but a puddle of ink in the middle of nowhere.

Lynn reached out and put a hand in the puddle of ink, ignoring the burning sensation from it.

She imagined her hand on Claire's shoulder and wished her farewell.

"Rest in peace, old friend…."

Lynn pulled her hand out from the puddle and shook the ink off, then joined the captain and the other survivors.

Some others were also mourning their fallen comrades, they had expected to all be splatted together, but now they had a second chance.

They thanked those who fell to buy them time.

The captain as well, was silently giving her thanks to all her fallen subordinates and bidding them farewell.

Once they had said their goodbyes, the captain ordered her troops to salvage what equipment they could and prepare to move out.

Lynn came over with a question "Umm captain, I'm probably in no position to say this, but shouldn't we be more grateful to the New Squidbeak Splatoon?"

"We could, but you can't let your guard down around them, there is no telling what they might demand as compensation. Besides they are still our enemies, once we deal with Octavia, they will be next." The captain pondered for a second "That being said I suppose it would make sense to use them against Octavia instead of our battered Splatoon…"

She didn't like it, but maybe just maybe they would strike another deal with them soon.

At least now they knew it was possible.

"What do you mean by "use them"?" came a voice

Surprised, the captain saw that Agent 3 had followed her.

"Didn't I say we had no more business with each other? Why are you still here?"

"Well you left before I was done talking, I'm glad I did though, what were you planning to do?"

"Nothing, leave it."

"Okay then, can I ask what you are doing here?"

"Paying our respects."

"Oh…"

Inker thought for a moment, then kneeled and clasped his hands together for the Octarians.

The sight of Agent 3, paying respects to fallen Octarians drew the attention of everyone around them.

This surprised the captain even more.

"And why are you doing that? You didn't know anyone here."

"Maybe not, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't feel sorry for their untimely demise, after all if I didn't doubt Lynn so much I could have gotten here earlier."

"Huh…"

Seeing this erased any thoughts of splatting Agent 3, at least for now.

"Well then, i'm off to find the rest of my splatoon. Don't bother looking for us, since you're acquainted with Lynn, i'll send her to make contact with you once we've found everyone."

"And then what?"

"Why do you care? Well I'm not done with Octavia yet, so i'll lay off any plans of taking over Inkopolis for the moment."

"You really don't need to keep making Inkopolis your enemy."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Well i'm just saying, Lynn wasn't the first Octoling I spoke with."

"So i've heard, there was that other girl who got lost in Inkopolis."

"Yeah about that, she's kinda living there now, of course the rest of the Inklings don't know she's an Octoling yet."

"Once again, what are you getting at?"

"I think it's possible to co-exist, both Inklings and Octarians can live together in peace, if you have nowhere else to go why not try Inkopolis?"

The captain scoffed at the idea.

"Is that why you agreed to rescue us? To promote your idea of coexistence? Then let me tell you, Octo Valley isn't nearly the same as Inkopolis, we have a large population living in poverty, a lack of natural resources and a dangerous environment, if we were to all suddenly move to Inkopolis it would be chaos for both sides. Maybe you can have one Octoling live there with no problems, but what about other species of Octarian? How will they find work? how will they communicate? Besides I doubt everyone in Inkopolis is fond of having Octarians around, the same can be said of Octo Valley. Don't bring such a first world problem like coexistence to a third world place like Octo Valley."

Once again, Inker found himself wondering if his idea of a unified Octarian Inkling city was impossible.

"No, I think we can forget about the past, shed away our old hatreds and everyone can live in harmony in Inkopolis."

'_Even though he can best our army, Agent 3 is still such a kid.' _the captain concluded from Inker's idealism.

"You are incredibly naive, if you think you can just stick anyone into Inkopolis and not run into problems then you are greatly mistaken. There could be interracial feuds between the populace, conflicting traditions, or there could be enemies of Inkopolis sneaking in by blending in with the crowds. For example did you know that Octavia already has someone working for her inside Inkopolis?"

"!?" Inker hadn't even considered that. Who in Inkopolis would help the Octarians?

"Who is it?"

The captain wagged a finger.

"Uhh-oh looks like you messed up, if you keep letting anyone into Inkopolis there will definitely be spies, criminals and other creatures with bad intentions coming in."

"Tell me, who is working for the Octarian army in Inkopolis?"

"I don't know, I simply heard that Octavia had a spy in Inkopolis, at least you are aware of it now, consider that my way thanking you for the timely rescue."

"What? There are thousands living in Inkopolis? How am I supposed to find one spy in all that?"

"Don't ask me, protecting Inkopolis is your job not mine. Honestly I was surprised you even came to my aid, were you expecting to gain more out of this? Or was it just the hormones of a healthy boy kicking in at the sight of a submissive Lynn?"

"I simply thought that is was the right thing to do."

"Hmph, there is no right or wrong, everyone including you just does whatever doesn't hold any unwanted consequences. If you really expected nothing more out of this ordeal then you should learn to be more cunning. Well i'm done talking to you, like I said I'll send Lynn to contact you once I have gathered the rest of the 202nd splatoon."

As if on cue, an Octotrooper came to report that they were ready to leave.

"Alright captain, we have identified all the fallen and collected their equipment, we also managed to salvage four hovercrafts and two Octoshots, we are now ready to move out."

The Octotrooper occasionally glanced over at Agent 3 while talking, it would seem that they still weren't all comfortable being near him.

"We move out now, Octavia would likely come back soon to pick up our trail so we need to be far away from here. Lynn!"

Lynn snapped to attention "Yes ma'am!"

"You are the only one here who didn't surrender, so I'm assuming you would have the best guess as to where the others are hiding, so i'll be depending on you to help us find the rest of the 202nd."

"Understood."

"Wait, you never answered my question from earlier; why do you hate us Inklings so much?"

The captain ignored Inker's question, partially because she could not answer it.

"Move out!"

The captain and her splatoon marched away.

Inker didn't bother going after them this time, he stood alone amongst the splotches of Ink.

'_Is it really impossible for Octarians and Inklings to live in peace? Am I really just being naive for thinking that it's possible?'_

Inker had kind of hoped that saving Lynn's splatoon meant finding a group of Octarians friendly to Inklings.

But of course things were not as simple as that, just cause they didn't like the current Octarian leader didn't mean they would like him and the Inklings.

Yet no matter what, he still wanted to believe that what he saw on sunken scroll #16 could become a reality again, because everytime he fought the Octarians, he couldn't help but think that he was doing something unnecessary.

'_No, the Inklings and Octarians can live in peace again, the captain and those others probably just need some time to get to know us, just like Victoria did.'_

Well at least he got some information from their captain, though he wasn't sure if it was trustworthy.

He would have to be careful from now on, if there was an Octarian spy in Inkopolis, then they would have to find out who it is quickly.

'_I should let the others know too…'_ Inker sighed_ 'one problem after another, man this is getting really annoying.'_

The Octoling stranded in Inkopolis

The squidnapping of his best friend

The rescuing of Lila

The Octarian army going after Victoria

The defense minister asking him to go back to Melanin

A sudden request from an Octoling to rescue her splatoon

And now having to find an Octarian spy in Inkopolis.

Recently it had been one troublesome event after another.

Inker hoped that there would be light at the end of the tunnel.

Assuring himself that all would be fine, Inker hurriedly left for Inkopolis.

If he didn't get back in time everyone would be worried.

Cuttlefish, Kalus, Callie, Marie, Sky, Neon.

Maybe Victoria too.

Besides, if there really was a spy in Inkopolis, they could all be in danger already…..

'_If that captain was telling the truth, then I should thank her next time I see her.'_

As Inker headed back for Inkopolis, the Octarian army and Octarian reserve army brought everyone back to Octo Valley.

The captain attempt to overthrow Octavia had failed completely, Octarian life reverted to the way it was before back under Octavia's rule.

They would keep an eye out of the runaway captain and her splatoon, but they weren't going to turn their attention away from Inkopolis either.

Like old habits, old hatreds die hard.

* * *

**OCs from part 4: The enemy of my enemy (Chapters 16-20)**

Inklings

Inker: Blue Inkling boy, the New Squidbeak Splatoon's star agent. Despite finding himself in more and more situations where he is forced to fight the Octarians, Inker still holds the idea that maybe the two races could live peacefully. He is a skilled fighter, likely due to his experience as Agent 3 and a compassionate individual who would prefer putting only himself in harm's way to help others. (also known as Agent 3)

Kalus: Red Inkling boy, Inker's best friend/ childhood friend. Kalus was originally the average Inkling, having lived an easy life in Inkopolis, he used to think of the Octarians as nothing but the bad guys, until the events of Behind Enemy Lines and was somewhat arrogant at first. Kal learned that there were places far different from Inkopolis upon learning of Octo Valley, since then he grew to be more compassionate and tries to share the joy of living in Inkopolis, he similar to Inker in a way. However Kalus lacks Inker's combat skill and idealism.(also known as Kal)

Sky: Cyan Inkling boy, the youngest of his friend group. Sky is self aware and tends to stay away from things he cannot do, leaving them to someone capable. In a way Sky is a sort of perfectionist, who prefers not to do anything unless he is absolutely sure of the outcome. However since Sky tends to act only on certainties, he tends to be bad at fast paced combat where quick decisions matter most, so he prefers to stay on the sidelines and have a low sense of presence.

Neon: Bright Green Inkling girl, one of Kalus, Inker and Sky's friends. Neon is a happy go lucky Inkling, she often does whatever seems most amusing at the moment without thinking of consequences. Neon often acts on instinct, and her instinct is pretty good, it was good enough to make her the highest ranked turf war player of her friend group and good enough so that she could fight against the Octarian army as good as anyone in the New Squidbeak splatoon. Neon is usually a high profile individual, but recently she seems to have vanished from her friend group…..

Laven: light purple Inkling boy. He met Inker and co during the squidnapping incident and had gotten on friendly terms with them all. Laven cares deeply for his little sister Lila, after Lila's return from Octo Valley, Laven, along with several other Inklings have been calling for a new Inkopolis army to protect them from the Octarian threat.

Arcus: Black Inkling man, Arcus Hilgendorf is Inkopolis' minister of defense, his parents were part of Cap'n Cuttlefish's first Squidbeak Splatoon and so he is like family to Cap'n Cuttlefish. Recently he was faced with the possibility of rearming Inkopolis, though it is unclear whether he is for or against it.

Octarians:

Victoria: Octoling, originally an average Octoling soldier, Victoria wandered into Inkopolis on accident, she was originally distrustful of Kalus and the other Inklings, but have come to learn that they are not the evil creatures Octavio had them made out to be. Victoria is often serious calm and cunning, choosing never to outright stand against anyone, however when things go wrong, Victoria will often lose her cool.

Octavia: Elite Octoling, Acting Leader of Octo Valley, Octavia claims to be simply acting as a backup leader for Octavio, yet seems to not care about her former leader at all. Octavia does not do a very good job of leading the Octarian army, though she does manage to accomplish a few things. Octavia holds her rank in high regard and finds it offensive when her rank is ignored. Octavia also chooses an oppressive way of leadership, choosing to make examples of those who step out of line.

The captain: Elite Octoling. A well respected captain of the Octarian army, she is incredibly skilled in combat and leads a splatoon of Octarians consisting mainly of Octotroopers and Octolings. The captain cares for her troops and would go as far as to commit treason if it meant saving her troops. Because of this, Octarians serving under the captain are loyal to her, to the point where they staged a coup d'etat in Octo Valley. Unfortunately the captain seems to be quite the unlucky individual, as a string of convenient events often ruin her plans. Like all Elite Octolings, she hates Inklings and the first thing that comes to mind when seeing one is to splat them, although she can't seem to figure out why. (Also known as Emily Vale)

Violet: Purple Octoling, Victoria's roommate, due to being constantly fed Octarian propaganda, she sees the Inklings as a scary bunch, especially Agent 3. A somewhat cowardly Octoling, Violet ratted out Victoria to the Octarian army and got Victoria's family killed in the process. Feeling guilt from her actions, Violet is seeking a way to atone for her mistakes.

Claire (deceased): Octoling, the captain's adjutant, she relays information to her commanding officer and briefs her on current events. Claire is loyal to her captain and was willing to follow her without question. Claire often emphasizes that one should make their own decisions instead of letting someone else choose for them, she demonstrates this by always knowing what she believes and wants. Claire also knows how to clearly read one's emotions, which helps her spot lies and uncertainty among the troops. In a final act of loyalty to the captain, Claire placed herself between the captain and the firing squad that was supposed to execute her, assuring her captain that all was fine and that they would someday be remembered, before getting splatted by shots meant for the captain.

Lynn: Octoling, a soldier serving under the same captain as Claire. Lynn is as loyal as they come and will gladly follow orders, though this is revealed to be because Lynn doubts her own decision making ability. She is good friends with Claire who would often tell her to make decisions on her own. Finally, when Octavia was revealed to be alive and captured the captain, Lynn made a choice, unlike the others who all chose to either surrender or run away, Lynn seeked help from the New Squidbeak Splatoon to save Claire, the captain and the rest of her splatoon. By the time she arrived though, Claire was already splatted, Lynn asked her friend if she made the right choice, having finally taken her advice to heart.

Maria Holter (deceased): Octoling, Victoria's mother and a former Elite Octoling. Maria grew up in the hands of a loving family, but Octo Valley's deteriorating state was too dangerous, her family was killed by the everyday accidents of Octo Valley and as a result she was devastated therefore she decided to raise Victoria without that same love, that way Victoria would not miss her if she died the same way her family did. Despite treating Victoria coldly, Maria loved her and was ready to do anything to guarantee her future, so when Elite Octolings came to her house searching for Victoria, she and her husband Robert set their own home on fire, burning the Elite Octolings alive and killing themselves in the process, they died happily in each other's arms, content with their lives.

Robert Holter (deceased): Octoling, Victoria's father and a schoolteacher in Octo Valley. Robert knew Maria from a young age and the two grew close, when Maria lost her whole family in one of Octo Valley's accidents, he promised he would never leave her side, later marrying her. He and Maria raised Victoria coldly so that she would not get too attached to them and thus would not miss them if they died, despite that both he and Maria disliked the way they raised Victoria as it drove the family apart. Robert was given a chance to escape with Victoria and Kalus when the Octarian army started hunting Victoria, but he decided to stay true to his promise and stay by his wife's side till the end. He and Maria set their house on fire, burning the Octarians searching for Victoria and killing themselves in the process. Robert and Maria died in each other's arms, happy with the life they had.


	21. Vanguards and Bureaucrats

**Part 5: Trouble at home (Chapters 21-25)**

It would seem that Acting Leader Octavia's original plan of provoking Inklings to start another war has somewhat succeeded. Families and friends of the squidnapping victims are beginning to take matters into their own hands and Inkopolis' opinion of the Octarians are lowering even further than before. Blind to the terrors of real combat in Octo Valley, groups of Inklings are preparing themselves to attack Octo Valley for revenge.

* * *

**Parliament building, Inkopolis**

This was one of the most important buildings of Inkopolis.

Far from the lush and peaceful countrysides or the cheerful yet busy areas where turf wars took place.

This was the Inkopolis parliament building, also known as the national diet building, a wide, white and sturdy structure that symbolized the Inkopolis government.

Here senators and ministers spent days debating and making decisions that could decide the futures of almost any living being, not just limited to those in Inkopolis.

Of course, decisions like that usually involved conflict, since Inkopolis was a very peaceful place since the great turf wars, conflict was greatly discouraged and avoided, the only bit of conflict left in Inkopolis were just the usual spats between Inklings who were salty over turf wars.

The Octarians had been silent since their defeat. Following the great turf war, the Inkopolis army kept tabs on the the Octarians for a few years, but they saw no sign of the Octarians seeking revenge.

Since Inkopolis was so peaceful there had been little need for an army, the invention of "respawn" technology made the Inkopolis army even less needed.

Finally, forty years after the great turf war between Inkopolis and Octopolis, the Inkopolis government decided that there was no need for an army anymore, thus the Inkopolis army was disbanded.

Now, more than sixty years after it's disbanding, the ministers of Inkopolis found themselves debating if the Inkopolis army need to be reformed.

This was in direct response to the recent Octarian activity, though most of the Inklings managed to return safely after being squidnapped, it costed the lives of several IPD officers.

Then the public realized that if the Octarians could squidnap them once, they could do so again at any time.

Inkopolis' current prime minister: Virril Steenson has had a headache ever since that time.

First the protests outside government buildings, then the whole "Vanguard" thing spreading online like wildfire.

If something wasn't done soon, his approval rating would go down.

The delegation they sent to Octo Valley was supposed to bring back information that could soothe the public and despite Defense Minister Arcus Hilgendorf's doubts, they had made it back safely.

So one again, the ministers sat together scratching their heads.

"Well? Did the ministry of foreign affairs find out anything?"

"According to Vice Minister Harting's report, there is currently a power struggle within Octo Valley, their first contact only lasted a few short minutes, since the Octarians who had came to meet them lost contact with their superiors. A few days later they informed the team that there had been a failed coup within their military and that they are too busy trying to catch the insurgents to speak with us."

"Is that all? Information like that won't soothe the public."

The headache was back.

Steenson groaned, this wasn't something they could use.

"The public is already calling for a new army, not only that but since we haven't declined or agreed yet, they've started making their own, if this goes on our approval rating will sink. At this point, we need something we can tell the public and change their opinion otherwise we will have civilians arming themselves and invading the Octarians. Come on people, work with me here."

The other ministers all had the same deflated looks, each of them knew what was at stake here.

"You say that, but what else can we do? And what if it turns out they had been right and the Octarian government really is squidnapping our citizens? That would provoke the public even further."

"If they are, they wouldn't openly admit it would they? That would be the same as declaring war."

"What if that's exactly what they want?"

"Come on, let's not jump to conclusions, for all we know there could be some kind of cephalopod trafficking gang using the slums of Octo Valley as a base of operations."

"If that was true, then how would the IPD lose detective Vert and all those other trained officers? They wouldn't lose to a bunch of ragtag gangsters."

As it seemed like a debate was at hand, the various ministers started going through reports and notes.

"Regardless of who did it, isn't it true that at this point we need an army to protect our borders?"

"Yes, We may not have any conflict on the surface, but with Octo Valley being directly below us and the Octarians at large, national security is most important, I'm sure the public sees that too."

"The public only sees what they want to, but the problem isn't having an army, it's everything happening before and after it. First off who would we recruit? And who would train them? The last military veterans we have are all over 80 years old and unfit for fighting."

"Not to mention all the economical problems, all of our old military bases have been converted into public areas, most of which are incredibly popular, Booyah base for example is currently the most popular place in Inkopolis. We can't just shut them down and turn them back into military bases, so we will need to spend our budget on constructing new bases, after that there's the issue of the soldiers' salaries and military R&D, taxes will suddenly rise, meaning that everyone in Inkopolis would need to find new jobs to make ends meet."

"If that's the case, wouldn't the cheaper solution be to just aid the Vanguard movement?"

Every pair of eyes in the room turned to the minister of defense Arcus, who had just said something unbelievable.

"What exactly are you saying? If we start supporting the Vanguard movement then it will seem like we encourage the public to form militia groups. The prime minister's approval rating would drop even further."

"If the Vanguard movement goes wrong, we will be criticized for even allowing them to exist in the first place."

Arcus listened carefully to the complaints of his colleagues before further explaining his intentions.

"Look, I'm sure we all know that reforming the Inkopolis army is costly and has nearly no long term benefit and that if we do nothing about the Vanguard movement they'll start going on rampages through Octo Valley and possibly get themselves splatted. So instead of reforming the army and stopping the Vanguard movement, why not help them out? Give them some proper equipment and construct some spawn points in Octo Valley to minimize casualties? It would cost much less than reforming the army, don't you think?"

He also knew that the Octarian army was definitely behind the squidnapping incidents, but he couldn't say he had secretly sent a kid to Octo Valley to scout for him, he would definitely receive backlash for it.

"I think this is your family's military roots showing, did you forget about the Octarian population? If you let a pack of angry Inklings run though Octo Valley there is going to be a lot of innocents caught in the crossfire."

"Yeah, the members of the Vanguard movement all seem too fixated on their own views, even if you give them the proper equipment and training they are still uncontrollable."

"And what would you have them do? Roll over and die?" Arcus countered "You just said that they are uncontrollable, if that is the case wouldn't the best approach be to better prepare and equip them to prevent casualties?"

A few others agreed

"That is true, if we help the Vanguard movement, we could have them protect Inkopolis from Octo Valley and at the same time prevent them from making bad choices and using bad equipment."

Others did not

"And what about the Octarians? They would see it as a declaration of war."

"We could deny it though, since the Vanguard movement technically isn't affiliated with us, but we would need to support them in secret then."

"What do you think Prime minister?"

Steenson sighed, the headache was still there, meaning something was still going wrong.

He could practically kiss his approval rating goodbye at this point.

Since the cabinet was unable to come up with a conclusion and Arcus had some sort of reasoning to his argument perhaps it was best to let the matter develop a bit more, then act when it was certain they had the right choices.

"Maybe we should have Harting's team try to speak with the Octarian government again, in the meantime, if you really think the Vanguard movement can be the solution, then keep a close eye on them."

Was it a bad idea?

The headache wasn't getting any worse, but it wasn't getting any better.

They were just sitting idly by so no surprise there.

As long as things didn't get worse, they would be fine now.

* * *

**Kal's house, Inkopolis**

It was all over the internet.

The Vanguard movement, an organization aimed at being the spearhead to penetrate into Octo Valley and take revenge for the victims of the squidnapping incidents.

They were spreading fast, their Freshbook page had gotten tons of attention, the #Vanguard was trending on Skitter, Huetubers were makings videos on them and they even had a Fishcord group which had so much members that if you decided to type everyone, the chat would blow up faster than a burst bomb.

Kal himself had received plenty of invites as he was one of the squidnapping victims too.

"The Inkopolis government isn't doing anything, so will take action ourselves. We ask everyone who had seen the brutality of the Octarians to join together, we shall become vanguards of a great campaign and punish the Octarians for their actions. If you could spread this message to everyone you know, it would be much appreciated." Kal read the email he had received, presumably from Lila or someone related to her.

It was one of several, there had been a few others too.

"Have you or your loved one been squidnapped? Then you must join the Vanguard movement, this movement aims at punishing the evil Octarians, what we do will be much appreciated by all."

Kal wasn't too fond of the idea, he would have preferred to stay away from these troublesome events.

As long as nobody's lives were at stake, then there was no need to get involved.

Besides, Bogs was the only Inkling who had died in captivity, sure that was awful by Inkopolis standards, but to Octo Valley it wasn't a big deal, Kal had seen it for himself.

There was the poor state of the Undercity

The constant sounds of moaning and screaming

The sad stories he heard from various Octolings; Maria, Claire, Lynn, Madison and Victoria.

There wasn't exactly a right or wrong side here anymore, so Kal didn't bother joining the Vanguard movement like the other abducted Inklings.

Though he did want to speak with them sometime and ask what the heck they were thinking.

Victoria had also been hearing the news.

Not only that, but every time she went out into Inkopolis she could overhear someone talking about Octo Valley and how evil the Octarians were.

After a day out, Victoria sighed as she returned to Kal's house.

Kal was seated in his living room, checking his laptop "What's wrong?"

"Nothing really, but I think I might be starting to miss home."

For the first time since leaving Octo Valley, she was reminded of how she didn't belong here.

'_What would happen if this helmet was to fall off in public?'_ Victoria wondered

She could only imagine a scenario where an angry mob descended upon her after figuring out she's an Octoling.

On the other hand Victoria hoped that if things go well, maybe this Vanguard movement could bring down Octavia.

Not that it would do her any good.

"You miss Octo Valley?"

Victoria twitched "Kinda, the whole Vanguard thing is starting to make me miss home."

It just didn't feel safe when there were Inklings talking about hunting down your kind.

"If you ever want to go back, just go ahead."

"Did you forget? I can't go back, not unless something is done about Octavia first."

"Oh right."

Kal kicked himself for forgetting something that big, it was the whole reason Maria and Robert died in the first place.

"Why does the Vanguard movement want to fight so bad?" Victoria asked

She didn't use Inkling social media so she only knew what she heard from wandering around.

Kal on the other hand, knew everything about it.

It started with the families of Bogs and Lila; the Mire and Fields families, since the two were the ones who suffered most at the hands of the Octarians.

Then the other families joined in, sharing their thoughts.

Then there was the protests for a new army, but instead of a direct answer, the prime minister only said that they would try to talk with the Octarians.

Somehow that ended up being seen as stalling, so then the Vanguard movement was made.

Victoria could understand, after all the Octarians had intended to provoke the Inklings to attack into Octo Valley, a place where the Inklings were unfamiliar with. "So basically, these "Vanguards" are just an Inkling militia."

"What's a militia?"

"A military force made from civilians to take on the role of an actual military. Speaking of which, i'm surprised to hear that you Inklings have no military anymore, no wonder Inker doesn't understand basic military tactics like reconnaissance by fire."

Kal didn't understand that last term, but didn't bother asking about it.

"I guess Inkopolis had been so peaceful, that we didn't think we'd need one."

"Whoever made that decision is possibly the biggest idiot of all. Hold on a second! That means Inker and the other agents of the New Squidbeak splatoon aren't official Inkling army?"

"As far as I've heard, hardly anyone even knows they exist."

"If that's true, then how did Inker get so good at combat? I spent years training in the Octarian army and yet I couldn't compare to him."

"Maybe he's just good at it? I mean he's pretty good at turf wars too, or maybe its because he plays turf wars?"

"It could be, who in the world came up with the idea of turning the the Great Turf Wars into a game for Inklings?"

"Who knows?"

"You don't?"

"Not really, I wasn't really interested in history anyways."

"Huh, oh well, if Inker could become the powerhouse that is Agent 3 through turf wars, then maybe this Vanguard movement could really go up against the Octarian army."

"It almost sounds like you want them to win."

"I kind of do, since I want Acting Leader Octavia to realize she isn't untouchable, but i'm also worried, what would happen to us should the Vanguard movement actually win?"

"Im sure it will be fine."

"I doubt it, as an Octarian I can somewhat understand their feelings, the feeling of being wronged, the desire for revenge, that is why the army squidnapped you in the first place, they didn't target you specifically, they grabbed you because you were an Inkling. The Vanguard movement seems to be the same way, they won't care if an Octarian is affiliated with the army or not, they'll likely attack any Octarian they see. If you ask me, the whole Vanguard thing is a disaster waiting to happen."

"When you put it like that, the Vanguard movement should be a big concern, yet nothing is being done to stop them."

The police didn't do anything about them, sure they stood there at the protests they had staged and were present during the speeches they gave about vengeance and self defense, but they hadn't done anything to stop them.

Day by day, the Vanguard movement grew larger.

Kal still couldn't understand what they were thinking, turning themselves into a "militia" as Victoria called it. Were they really ready to throw down their lives to get back at the Octarians?

He along with Inker and Sky were worried that Neon would have joined them, since she had not been seen for a while, so they had been paying close attention to the movement, luckily they didn't find any trace of her, since Neon was loud and often drew a lot of attention, finding her should have been easy.

Yet they hadn't been able to find her, almost as if she was avoiding them.

Deep in thought, Kal was silent for a while, until the doorbell rang.

Victoria and Kal exchanged glances and nodded

Victoria grabbed her Tentacles Helmet and ran upstairs while Kal went for the door

They wouldn't make the same mistake as last time.

However there was no danger, the unexpected guests was just Inker, who had returned from Octo Valley, followed by Sky and surprisingly, Callie and Marie.

"Hi Kal, mind if we come in for a sec?'

"Uhh okay?"

Kal let everyone inside, Victoria showed up after confirming that everyone present already knew about her.

Inker had some urgent news.

"I didn't want to say this over the phone or anything, so I brought everyone here, apparently there is a spy in Inkopolis."

"What!?" everyone cried in unison

They all had their own questions

"How is that possible?" Sky wondered, as he didn't think an Octarian could blend in well in Inkopolis.

"Who did you hear that from?" Kal asked

"You aren't possibly suspecting me... are you?" Victoria squinted at Inker.

"How did they even get inside Inkopolis?" Callie wondered

"You heard that from that Octarian captain, did you." Marie suspected

"Yes, I did."

'_Octarain captain?' _Kal wondered

"Wait hold on, are you talking about the captain of 202nd splatoon? The one that Octoling wanted you to rescue" Victoria appeared to be familiar with the officer.

"If it's that ungrateful octo, I'm not sure we should believe her so quickly." Marie pointed out, she didn't like the way the captain had treated them, but who could blame her for not being on her guard.

"Wait hold on a second, Inker did you actually rescue the captain of the 202nd splatoon?"

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes! That captain was known for being one of the best officers in the army, her combat skill and loyalty to the Octarians were both unmatched, her skill and courage earned her a battlefield commission to captain during the resource war against the Salmonids! And she was not even 20 at the time! You know how difficult it is to reach such a rank at that age? Heck she outranked my mother at half her age! It's really hard to believe someone like her would try to overthrow Octavia."

Victoria's admiration for such a well accomplished soldier had caused her to unknowingly exaggerate her description of the captain.

"Uhh okay, well she was about to be executed when we found her and then she said something about guerrilla warfare, though i'm not sure what that means."

"It means she plans on using a small and highly mobile force to do hit and runs, ambushes, and other underhanded attacks. You should try and get her help, i'm sure someone like her could bring down Octavia."

Inker wasn't about to start more violence against the Octarians

"I have no intention of taking down another Octarian leader, for now I want to focus on the spy in Inkopolis. You were part of the army before, so I thought I'd ask you."

"I wouldn't know anything about it, I'm only an Octoling, if you want to learn about intelligence gathering, you'd have to find an Elite Octoling or Octostriker or another higher ranked Octarian."

Their search for the spy hit a dead end already

"Well, do you know anything that could help? How do spies blend in anyways?"

"How would I know, but just to be clear, the captain said "spy" and not "intelligence officer""

"What's the difference?"

"One is a loyal individual, ready to sacrifice everything and risk going behind enemy lines, the other is some disposable goon who is paid off or convinced to give us secrets."

"Okay, so we should be looking for a loyal Octarian?"

"No you got it the wrong way around! A spy is the disposable goon working for himself! not the loyal individual!"

Victoria was hung up on definitions when military matters are involved.

"Okay, but regardless the two are practically the same right?" Marie asked

"No way in the slightest! Why is it so hard to understand? An intelligence officer is a proper military operative, a spy is literally anyone who can gather information."

"I don't see the difference."

Victoria was getting somewhat annoyed

"One is always an Octarian soldier! The other is anyone we can talk too!"

Noticing that she was almost shouting, Victoria took a deep breath.

"Okay look, if its a spy you are looking for, then it may not even be an Octarian in the first place, which means it will be much harder than finding an intelligence officer."

"Oh."

That hadn't crossed Inker's mind.

With everything going on, it would be impossible for an Octarian to sneak in, but if it was some other creature who was easily bribed maybe? Then it would be much harder to figure out who the spy really was.

Sky brought his hand to his chin "If that's the case, then it could anybody in Inkopolis…. Even Neon…."

"Why would Neon help the Octarians?" What Kal asked had a pretty obvious answer: she wouldn't.

Would she?

Nah there are millions of other sea creatures that could help the Octarians.

"I think you are putting Neon far lower than she really is, sure she is kinda weird and runs around all hyper, but she couldn't possibly be helping the Octarians."

"Wouldn't it be a good idea to ask Neon for help? She did pretty good at discovering me back then." Victoria was referring to the time where Neon had managed to find her hiding in Kal's house despite all the effort Kal and Inker put into keeping her hidden.

"If we could find her that is." Sky replied

Callie on the other hand had been silent the whole time, but she had something else in mind.

"Does DJ Octavio know any other Inkling besides Cuttlefish?"

"Don't ask me, I barely knew anything about Octavio, why not go back to the captain?"

"I already talked to the captain, or wait do you mean Cap'n Cuttlefish? Dangit calling that Elite Octoling "captain" is kinda confusing." Inker scratched his head "Besides, the captain doesn't seem to like us much."

"That's no surprise, she is an Elite Octoling after all, maybe I should go talk with her."

"Well you'd have to wait for a while, she said she'd send someone after she had gathered her splatoon again, I recommend you don't call her Emily though, she gets really ticked off by it for some reason."

"Of course, normally you refer to officers by rank, just like how I had to address Octavia as Acting Leader when I was at Nautilus."

"The Octarians are so hung up on titles." Marie asked

"Its a form of respect and acknowledgement okay, don't you do the same in the New Squidbeak splatoon? You call each other agent."

"That has more to do with us not wanting to reveal our identities."

"Why? Everyone around the New Squidbeak splatoon knows it by now."

"It just became a habit I guess, plus there could be new agents in the future."

Inker had to steer the conversation back "Hold on everyone, can we all get back to the issue with the Octarian spy for a second, what are we going to do about it?"

They all looked at each other.

None of them knew how to proceed

"Maybe the best thing to do is wait a bit." Marie suggested

"Yeah there isn't anything we can do except keep an eye out for for anyone acting suspicious."

* * *

**Inkopolis plaza**

Since nobody had a clue as to who the Octarian spy was, the day proceeded as usual.

The next day Inker, Kal, Sky and Victoria met up in Inkopolis Square.

If an Octarian spy was in Inkopolis they would likely be here.

That means anyone here could be in danger.

It also meant that they should find Neon again, they would need all the help they can get.

"When we don't need her help with the Octarians, she's hopping around trying to enter Octo Valley regardless, now when we need her help, she disappears without saying anything. What a troublesome girl." Sky muttered

Still he was a bit worried, they were all a bit worried, it wasn't like Neon to go quiet like this.

Neon was always the energetic one, hopping around with Charger type weapons and speaking in a voice so loud you'd think she wants the whole world watching her.

So when Neon hasn't spoken to any of them for almost a week, it becomes worrying.

There was a gathering of Inklings in Inkopolis plaza, Inker, Kal, Sky and Victoria looked over with curiosity, but then heard the mention of "Vanguard movement" and left.

Mostly because it was dangerous to have an Octoling so close to such an organisation.

"Oh my gosh, is that Kal? KAL!" someone called out to Kalus, making him freeze in his steps.

It was Lila, apparently she and her brother Laven were at the center of the whole Vanguard thing.

Kal didn't mind meeting them, but why couldn't they meet when Victoria wasn't here with him?

"Oh hi Lila."

"Good to see you again!"

Lila ran up and gave Kal a quick hug, she then noticed Inker as well.

"Agent 3." She whispered so that only Inker could hear.

Laven showed up as well, have just emerged from the crowd of Vanguard movement supporters.

"You guys again huh? Had any second thoughts about the Vanguard movement yet?"

Inker, Sky and Kal shook their heads.

"No, not yet."

"Hey speaking of which, are you the ones who sent me those emails?" Kal asked

Lila raised her hand "That was me."

"Look, I think it's great that you want to raise awareness of the squidnappings, but isn't going to Octo Valley too much?"

"Of course not, if we don't show the Octarians we mean business, then they will just come at us again." Laven replied right away, without any hint of doubt.

"What in the world put that idea in your head?"

"Lila did, look at her now, after what the Octarians did to her she is both mentally and physically scarred, what happened to my dear sister can happen to anyone. Leaving the Octarians to rot underground isn't enough."

Indeed Lila had been scarred heavily, the boiling pit did leave many open wounds, but at least she was alive.

"You are really sure about this?"

"Yes I am, the only good Octarian is one that doesn't exist."

"Okay now that is taking it a bit far."

"They deserve it….

…. Hey what's with that look? Are you thinking about joining us?" Laven noticed Victoria glaring at him from behind her helmet.

"I wouldn't join a group of maniacs like you if the world depended on it." was Victoria's response

"What did you just say? You realise the world does depend on it, right? You stand by and do nothing, and those Octarians will start crawling out of their holes to toss you into holes and boil you."

"It won't come to that, because you are lost in some twisted delusion where the Octarians are just monsters."

"You aren't actually DEFENDING the Octarians are you!?" Laven's voice attracted the other Vanguard supporters, who all looked over, some with angered gazes, others who whispered amongst themselves.

"Maybe I am, or maybe i'm just not stupid enough to jump to conclusions like the rest of you."

Victoria stood her ground despite the large number of Inklings glaring at her, though she wasn't sure how things would turn out if a fight was to start here.

Noticing the hostile atmosphere, Lila took a few steps away, then hid behind Laven.

Inker paid close attention to Laven and the other Vanguard supporters, if Victoria was exposed here, all of them would be in big trouble.

Kal wanted to leave, this looked like it would turn violent any moment now.

"Hey! What's going on over here!?"

A few IPD officers showed up, much to Kal's relief.

They had been tasked by Arcus to monitor the Vanguard movement, so they had been watching them for a while.

"Nothing officer, just a little chat."

"Yes, just a chat."

Victoria and Laven still looked ready to tear each other's throats out.

But with the IPD here they couldn't do such a thing, so Victoria and Laven both went their own ways.

Laven was followed by the other Vanguard supporters, while Victoria was followed by Inker and Sky.

Seeing the two leave, the IPD officer left as well.

Kal was going to follow the others, but had something else in mind, he wanted to talk to Lila one more time, to find out more about the Vanguard movement.

"Lila wait"

This gained the attention of Laven as well

"What do you want with my sister?"

"I just want to talk a bit more, its my first time seeing her since Octo Valley after all."

Lila tugged on Laven's sleeve

"Brother please, you are embarrassing us."

Laven immediately calmed down a bit, he put on a smile as he patted Lila's head

"Heh sorry about that."

Kal found is strange that Laven could calm himself down so quick.

'_This guy, he must have some sort of sibling complex.' _he concluded

"Anyways I wanted to know if the Vanguard movement really is planning to attack Octo Valley."

"Yes we are." Lila replied

"But why?" Kal lowered his voice, Laven was standing nearby but he shouldn't be able to hear him. "You saw how fighting was like in Octo Valley, its dangerous, we barely made it out that time."

"We did make it out."

"That is only because Agent 1 and 2 came to our rescue, we got lucky that one time, its best not to push our luck."

"But you told me Agent 3 beat the whole Octarian army on his own, so why can't my brother do the same?"

"It's not that easy, he's no Agent, aren't you worried something might happen to him?"

"Well kinda, but recently he seems to have changed, he's always so hot tempered now and everyday he grumbles about beating up the Octarians same with ma and pa, if beating up the Octarians is the only way to cheer them up, then i'm all for it."

"When did all this happen?"

"After I told them about Octo valley, did I do something wrong?"

"No, it's fine I'm just kinda worried for everyone."

"Don't worry Laven won't be alone anyways, my parents and a whole group of other Inklings from the Vanguard movement will go with him!" Lila seemed incredibly confident that Laven would return unharmed.

Looking at how many Vanguard members were standing with him now and noting that they were not all kids, made it seem even more convincing.

"What about the Octarians?"

Lila turned her head in confusion

"What about them?"

"You guys aren't actually planning to splat them all are you?"

"We are."

"Don't you think that is extremely unfair? There could be some Octarians that aren't all that bad." Kal wanted to use Victoria as an example, but there were many risks when it came to her identity.

Then again, Lila could probably be trusted, seeing as to how she didn't seem to hate the Octarians like her brother did, plus she kept Inker's identity a secret all this time.

"Yeah I actually didn't think about it that way…" Lila replied "There are some good Octarians, I met one at Melanin prison: Claire, she showed me movies, brought me food, and took care of me after the boiling pit."

"You knew an Octoling?"

"Yeah, but I don't want Laven to know."

"Don't worry i'll keep it a secret, actually you're not the only one who befriended an Octarian."

Kal pointed to himself

"You too?" Lila asked

Kal nodded "Yes, she actually helped Agent 3 get to us you know."

"Oh, can I tell Laven that? Maybe it will change his view on the Octarians."

"No, at least not yet, please keep it a secret okay?"

"Okay!"

"Thanks, it's great to see you again, especially after Octo valley."

With that, Kal left to go catch up with Inker and others.

As soon as he was gone, Lila went back to Laven and the Vanguard members.

Laven however, had overheard a bit of the conversation.

"Who is that Agent 3 you two were talking about?"

"You were listening?"

"For a while, but I want to know, was it not Det Vert who rescued you?"

Lila thought for a moment, was it really necessary to hide Agent 3?

If it was Laven, she could definitely ask him to keep it a secret

"I'll tell you when we get home, kay?"

Kal met back up with Victoria, Sky and Inker.

Victoria seemed to be in a bad mood since the encounter with Laven, she stood a couple steps away with her arms crossed.

Inker and Sky were discussing more on how to find Neon.

Victoria moved towards Kal when she saw him again.

"Where did you go?"

"I wanted to talk with Lila, sorry about leaving so abruptly."

"No worries, though I think you should stay away from that Vanguard movement, they seem really dangerous, and not just to the Octarians."

"Yeah I know, sorry we had to run into them, it must have been hard to listen to them talk like that."

"Oh i'll get over it."

Kal turned his attention to Inker and Sky

"Still no sign of Neon?"

"Nope" they both answered.

"It's really strange isn't it, where else could Neon have gone?"

Inker had a thought, she was super excited to fight in Octo Valley in the past right? Soo..

"I'm going to speak with Cap'n Cuttlefish and make sure he didn't see Neon head off to Octo Valley."

"Hopefully not, I think she is somewhere near Inkopolis Tower." Sky added

Kal looked at Victoria, since she had a bad shock when it came to Inkopolis tower a while back.

Victoria could take a hint.

"I'll head back, you guys have fun with Turf Wars."

* * *

**Defense minister's office**

Arcus had plenty to do of late.

He wanted to convince the other ministers that the Vanguard movement was the solution to their army problem.

Sure it was unorthodox, but the Inklings were an unorthodox race.

How else would one explain things like Splatfests, Turf Wars, the desire to become fresh…

The Vanguard movement wasn't all that bad once you think about it.

Arcus had the IPD monitor the Vanguard movement, looking for anything he could use to convince the other ministers.

He had compiled a list of pros and cons based on the reports from the IPD:

Pros: Cheap and efficient alternative to army, Turf Wars provide decent combat training, proper spawn point placement could lead to zero casualties.

Cons: Unexpectedly violent, as observed when Vanguard members almost started a fight because of another Inkling's opposing view. Chance of Octarian civilian casualties high if they were to attack populated areas.

He would be sure not to mention that last part.

Arcus flipped over one report and onto another.

He knew why he supported the Vanguard movement.

Deep down he looked up to the first Squidbeak Splatoon, that was why he talking with Craig so often.

He wanted to see a group similar to them defend Inkopolis.

Of course normally there is nothing to defend Inkopolis from, but with the Octarians back he might have a chance.

* * *

**Inkopolis tower**

Kal and Sky played a few games of turf wars before Kal returned home.

Inker met back up with Sky later before also heading off

Inker intended to check Neon's apartment and see if she had returned.

It was now getting dark, but Sky hadn't headed home yet.

He was certain that Neon was still around.

Every now and then he would see someone that he thought was Neon, but it would always turn out to be someone else, or he wouldn't catch up to that someone.

So instead of looking around, Sky waited a distance away from Inkopolis tower, where he blended in well with the crowd.

Finally, he saw her, Neon had just left Inkopolis tower, she looked around then walked off.

Instead of heading home, however Neon walked in another direction.

'_What is that troublesome girl up to now?'_

Neon left Inkopolis Plaza and Sky followed.


	22. Spies and Traitors

**Inkopolis**

The sun was setting in the city of colour

Creatures of all sorts were heading back home, content after another peaceful day.

There was a hill, overlooking a small docks, where creatures who could survive contact water were finishing up their day, carrying a haul of fish.

The hill also overlooked the ocean, yet hardly anyone ever came here.

Neon sat on the hill, her Scoped E-liter lying in the grass just beside her. She gazed off into the distance, at the puffy clouds floating around and the glowing sun setting beneath the horizon.

She liked this place, it was quiet, peaceful, a good place to clear your head.

Deep down, she wondered if she deserved to witness such a sight, especially after what she had done.

First she tried to splat Victoria and Kal out of boredom

Then she abandoned Sky to a bunch of Octolings

She also couldn't beat that Octarian saucer, if Callie and Marie hadn't shown up, they would all have been splatted or taken prisoner.

And then, she chose to come back to Inkopolis early instead of going with Kal and Inker to warn Victoria, because of that Victoria lost her family.

All because of her stupid choices.

Neon could not live it down.

Even the stuff she owned reminded her of her problems.

Her Splatterscope only reminded her of nearly splatting Victoria, so she buried it under a pile of laundry.

Her unscoped E-Liter 3K reminded her of abandoning Sky, so it was hidden in the back of her closet.

Sure she could run to Inkopolis tower and forget everything in a couple of turf war matches, but one couldn't live by playing turf wars forever.

Inker turned out to be an agent protecting Inkopolis in the shadows.

Kal had plans to become a diplomat and even seemed to have a relationship with Victoria

And knowing Sky, he probably had his future planned out as well.

'_They all surpassed me, probably for the best anyways.'_

Troubled by the past and afraid of the future, Neon had spent the last few days doing nothing but ranked battles.

It was the only thing she wouldn't mess up and the only way to get her mind off her problems.

Neon gazed toward the sunset again, taking in the orange glow reflecting off the waves in the distance, another day had passed and once again she did nothing productive.

She had played so much ranked matches over the past few days that she had made it to S+ for all three modes. (Because this is before Splatoon 2)

Now what was left for her? There was no higher rank at the moment, so all she could do was watch the days go by.

All she had was those unpleasant memories, clawing at her from inside.

"Are you lost?"

A voice brought Neon back to her senses.

"Or are you just looking for a place to be alone?"

The voice bore minimal emotion, maybe it was because it came from the one who was always fed up with her nonsense.

"Sky." Neon didn't have to look to know who it was.

"What are you doing? I know you only love turf wars and its the only thing on your mind, but at least return our calls."

'_The only thing on my mind?'_

"Sky, do you really think that I would ignore everyone just for turf wars?"

"Yeah, it's what you are doing right now."

"..."

Neon didn't move, she kept watching the sun go down.

She remained calm and still.

"It's no surprise you see me that way given my usual behavior, but even I have times where I want to enjoy some peace and quiet, tell me, doesn't the sight of one gazing into the horizon seem picturesque?"

Sky agreed, but was a bit confused, Neon was acting different from before.

Shouldn't she be hopping around talking about sniping, or ranked battles or something?

What made things different this time?

"Hey, you aren't really Neon are you? Maybe you are the Octarian spy disguised as my friend?"

"Octarian spy? Haha no, its me Neon, in the flesh."

"Then why won't you turn and look at me? You are not the Neon I know."

"Do you really want to see me? I'm the one who almost let you get splatted by the Octarians after all."

'_Oh right' _Sky recalled that time, when he and Neon left for Octo Valley in search of Inker, only for Neon to get carried away and leave him behind.

"You are still thinking about that? Weren't you the one who said "forget about it"?"

"Yeah I did say that, I say that everytime I screw something up… I guess I say that because, I can never forget about all those mistakes."

"Is that all? We all make mistakes, stop raising such a big fuss over it. Everyone is worried about you."

"Really? You are all worried about me? Well i'm fine, but I think it's best if you all forget about me for now."

"Why? What is bothering you this time?"

"Don't you see it Sky? I'm an idiot who can only screw things up: I would have splatted Victoria and Kal if Inker and the Squid Sisters didn't show up, you would have gotten splatted in Octo Valley if the Squid Sisters didn't show up and finally Victoria lost her family because of me."

"What are you talking about? I understand the first two, but the last one wasn't your fault."

"Is it not? I was the only one who chose to return to Inkopolis, Callie and Marie didn't have a choice because they had a show to do, but I had a choice to make and as always I made the wrong one. Remember how I told Inker and Kal that the death of Victoria's family wasn't their fault? That's because it was my fault, if I had chosen to stay and help out, then things would have been different."

'_So even though she pretends to be happy all the time, deep down she has her own problems huh.'_

"Well that may be true, but what happens happens, you can't change that now, so as you always say: just forget about it and move on."

"I can't, no matter how hard I try I keep getting reminded of those mistakes, everytime I see my Splatterscope I'm reminded of nearly splatting Kal and VIctoria, everytime I see my unscoped E-Liter I think of you being nearly splatted by Octolings."

'Is that why you kept changing weapons?"

"Yes"

'_So that's why she started using a Scoped E-Liter during that splatfest, despite not being used to it.'_

Neon finally turned to face Sky.

"You guys are amazing, you know that?"

"?" Sky was confused, he knew that Inker did some amazing things, Kal too perhaps, but himself? He just sits on the sidelines.

"All of you, I heard Kal planned on becoming a diplomat someday, I even saw him and Victoria dating recently. Inker has his Agent 3 gig and hangs out with celebrities like Callie and Marie. I don't even need to ask to know that you probably have something planned, you always do."

Sky thought about it for a moment, what did he plan to do to make himself useful in the future?

"... Well that is true, I was thinking about learning the Octarian language and being a translator for when the Octarians are eventually accepted back to the surface."

Neon smiled and went "oh" before turning her back on Sky again to stare off into the sunset.

The sun was more than halfway set

"So you have everything planned out, I knew it, you are all amazing, compared to you guys, i'm just..."

'_What does she mean by that?' _Sky wondered '_There is nothing incredible about having goals or plans for the future.'_

Sky noticed something sparkling on Neon's cheek.

There was a tear there, catching the light from the sunset as it made its way down Neon's face.

'_What a troublesome girl'_ Sky sighed, he sat beside Neon and looked at her. "Alright, what's wrong?"

"I'm scared." Neon's voice was barely audible, but it didn't sound scared at all.

Neon looked like a lost child, gazing at the future.

"Of what? Making mistakes?"

"Of time."

"What's there to me scared about?"

"Everything, all I've ever been good at was turf wars, but everyone knows you can't just go on playing turf wars forever."

"Well you still have a long time until then, i'm sure you could find something else that sparks your interest.."

"I tried, I couldn't. You know why I love fighting so much? It's because it's the only thing I can do. In the past I tried all sorts of things, painting, singing, dancing, but no matter what I did, I just couldn't ever get into it, I just couldn't understand or get any better no matter how hard I tried."

'_And now she's monologuing, great….'_ Sky wanted to complain, but it was very unusual for Neon to act this way, Sky felt that he should listen, maybe he could help out.

Neon continued her monologue

"But then came my first Turf War match, I still remember it as if it was yesterday. The moment I stepped out of the spawn point something just clicked, like a light being switched on inside of me, I don't know how it happened, but after the first few minutes I immediately understood everything: the importance of positioning and height, how to predict your opponent's movements, when to hide and when to fight. I had never felt that way in my life before, it was as if the world suddenly aligned itself in front of me, everything just made sense. For the first three months, I won every single match. It was wonderful, for the first time ever I felt like a winner, as if I had finally accomplished something in life. Of course I know Turf Wars is just a game, but it's all I can really do, overtime it has kinda become my solution to everything, whenever something goes wrong I go play a few rounds to clear my head, but my recent screw ups have been far worse than anything else and I can't get them out of my head. So please, just forget about me, I can't be handling those life or death situations that you guys are getting into, it will be safer for all of you if i'm not there to screw something up."

Neon smiled again and wiped away a tear, she was practically saying goodbye to everyone.

Sky needed to process this

He never expected that this carefree friend of his, who was always cheerful and full of energy, could have such simple things troubling her.

Still, didn't she call herself an idiot because she always made wrong choices? Yet she's making another bad choice.

"You really are an idiot."

"Huh?"

"Weren't you aware that you always screw things up? Well you just did it again by isolating yourself."

"Sky…"

Sky grabbed Neon's shoulders

"Just listen to me, I don't know what you see yourself as, but you need to stop worrying over mistakes and start seeing all the times you did good. You were able to find Victoria hiding in Inkopolis when not a single other Inkling, not even trained detectives could find her. You were able to go head on with an army of Octolings without any experience whatsoever and emerge unstached, and I saw what happened during that battle against that saucer, if it wasn't for you, Kal would have been sniped and Inker captured. You say that we are amazing and that you can't compare to us, yet you are probably the most talented Inkling I know, I mean who else can just enter Turf Wars for the first time and immediately understand everything?"

"You say that, but in the long run, being good at Turf Wars is pointless."

"No it isn't, if you like Turf Wars so much then maybe you could coach some newbies and pass on your skills, why are you even worried about the far future anyways? Things change and Inklings change, it's too early to worry about that."

"... I guess so."

Sky stood up and sighed

"Okay look, if you want to stay alone and play Turf Wars all day I won't stop you. But at least stay in touch with us. Me, Inker, Kal, we were all worried about you, I think Victoria was too. You should also stop looking down on yourself, sure you made some mistakes, but you also did many things right, in fact I once heard Inker mention that he thinks you would have made a better Agent 3 than he is, beside we are your friends, we can forgive a few mistakes. So stop doubting yourself and go back to being the talented, happy go lucky sniper you were before.

"... Okay."

Sky started to leave, but he stopped again after noticing that Neon hadn't moved yet.

"So are you just going to sit there all night?"

The sun had almost completely set, there was just a small slit of light over the horizon.

"Don't worry about me, i'm just enjoying this sight for as long as I can."

Sky was leaving again, but Neon's voice stopped him

"Hey Sky."

"Yeah?"

"Do you forgive me, for almost getting you splatted?"

"Yeah sure, it was your first time fighting in Octo Valley anyways, besides if I wasn't such a coward I could have taken care of myself."

Neon smiled

"Oh, well then, thanks."

Sky left Neon to herself.

Neon stared ahead, watching the last bit of sun disappear beneath the horizon before heading home.

With the sun set, darkness reigned in Inkopolis.

* * *

A few hours into the night, an old squid with a Bamboozler as a walking cane and a well built squid wearing a suit met up in a now empty park.

The two looked around, without making any sudden movements, checking if anyone was watching them.

Finally they sat together on a park bench

"Uncle Craig, good to see you again."

"Arcus my boy, good to see you too. So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Just a few things I thought you should know, and a small request too."

"Oh?"

"The prime minister still doesn't want to reform the army, so instead I suggested we support the Vanguard movement. When the time comes, make sure Octo Valley is accessible from Inkopolis."

"Agent 3 just came to me a while back telling me not to let them through, now you are suggesting the opposite?"

Arcus nodded

"Yes, suddenly making an official army would throw Inkopolis' economy out of whack, so believe the Vanguard movement would have to do."

"That's a dangerous game you're playing, there is so much to lose and not much to gain."

"It may satisfy the public though."

"But is it worth it?"

"I think so, but I'm no decorated officer like you."

"Well I think it's a bad idea, tell me, do you think that because my New Squidbeak splatoon did so well, then that means this Vanguard movement would also work?"

"Yes"

"Well, that is the exact reason why I keep the New Squidbeak Splatoon secret."

"So you are against sending the Vanguard movement to Octo Valley."

"Yes, I believe it would only get more creatures hurt. But if you insist, then come by the manhole tomorrow."

"You know I can't keep sneaking off like this.'

"Well yes, but I want you to hear the opinions of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, and not just me."

"Why?"

"Because only those who have actually seen battle, will understand what I am saying."

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

The next day, Inker heard from Cap'n Cuttlefish that he was needed over at the manhole.

Interestingly, he said to bring his friends along too, especially Kalus and Victoria.

Apparently Callie and Marie were called as well

Normally he would bring his Hero Shot and wear a jacket over his Hero suit, but apparently there wasn't going to be any fighting involved.

So Inker, along with Kalus, Sky and Victoria made their way to Inkopolis plaza and headed for the manhole.

However before they made it, they were spotted by a friend of theirs, who ran up from behind them at full speed and leapt on Inker and Kal.

Both Kal and Inker went "Oof" as an Inkling slammed into them with open arms, wrapping her arms and tentacles around their shoulders.

"Hiya! Did you miss me!?"

It was Neon, back to her usual self.

Inker rubbed his head

"Oww, hey Neon! Where have you been all this time?"

"Oh don't worry about that!"

Neon looked at Sky who was squinting at her and pointing at Kal and Victoria with his eyes.

He was probably telling her to stop trying to forget everything and accept it.

Neon realized that if Inker asked where she had been, then Sky probably hadn't told them why she left.

First she let go of Inker and Kal, then turned to face everyone.

She spoke with an apologetic tone "I'm sorry for troubling you all, but I felt that I wasn't doing any good with you, so I spent some time in Inkopolis Tower avoiding all of you. Sorry if I worried you."

"Uhh okay no worries, but what made you think you weren't doing any good?" Inker asked

"Yeah, its thanks to you we made it out of that ambush alive when rescuing Lila." Kal added

"Really? I gee I always thought it was all thanks to Callie and Marie."

"Maybe, but it's thanks to you that we survived long enough for them to arrive."

"Thanks guys, again i'm sorry for just vanishing without notice."

Inker found it a bit strange for Neon to suddenly worry over all this, but it didn't matter.

Judging by the odd gestures Sky was making, Inker deluded that he probably spoke to her sometime before.

"Hey no problem, at least you are alright."

"Besides we could always use your help." Victoria added

"Ahh" Neon recalled one last thing, she had to apologize to Victoria too.

"I'm sorry for what happened to your family, it was my fault, if I had stayed with Inker and Kal instead of coming back to Inkopolis for turf wars, things may have gone different."

Victoria twitched, she didn't want to think about that anymore, but Neon looked genuinely sorry even though Victoria didn't blame her at all.

"It wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyone's fault okay."

Neon looked at everyone

"Really? So, none of you hate me for all the dumb things i did?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Almost splatting you and Kal, leaving Sky behind in Octo Valley, nearly splatting your father the first time I saw him and going back to Inkopolis instead of going with Inker and Kal to warn you that the Octarian army was on to you."

"To be honest, I probably wouldn't have even remembered all that if you hadn't brought it up just now."

Inker agreed "Yeah, no need to worry about all that, we all make mistakes now and then, that's no reason to hate someone."

Kal nodded "It doesn't matter if you did screw up some things, you are still real fresh, awesome with a Charger and most of all you are our friend, so don't go hiding from us again."

Neon beamed

"Thanks guys! It's great to see you all again!"

She opened her arms inviting her friends for a quick group hug.

'_What was I thinking, worrying about all that stuff. Of course they would forgive me, they are my friends after all.'_

Once they were done, Neon had to catch up on what was happening.

"So, Whatcha doing?"

"Apparently the Cap'n needs us over at the manhole for something." Inker said

"Oh perfect! I have my E-Liter ready!"

"There won't be any fighting, apparently he need to talk about something."

"Oh okay, I'm still coming along though since I got no idea what's been going on recently and should probably catch up."

"Sure, suit yourself."

"Alright! Lets go!"

Even though Inker said there would be no fighting, Neon still took out her E-Liter and flipped it around happily

She was back to her usual self, just a bit more careful this time.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

Due the minor distraction named Neon, by the time Inker and the others arrived, Callie and Marie were already there trying to convince Arcus to stop supporting the Vanguard movement.

When they arrived, they could hear Callie, Marie and Arcus debating over the risk of letting the Vanguard movement enter Octo Valley.

"Cap'n what is going on?"

"Ahh you're all here, good."

Callie, Marie and Arcus stopped when they heard Cuttlefish and saw the new arrivals.

"Agent 3" Callie waved at Inker

"You're late" Marie added

"We got a little distracted, what's going on?"

Cap'n Cuttlefish cleared his throat

"Well, you've met Defense Minister Arcus before and I'm sure you've seen all the talk about the Vanguard movement."

"Yeah, kinda hard to miss it."

"Well, Arcus here wants to use the Vanguard movement as a substitute for an Inkopolis army, so I brought you all here to talk about it."

"I think its a bad idea" Callie added

Marie agreed as well

And so did everyone else but Arcus

"You see what I meant?" Cuttlefish said, referring to their discussion last night "Once you've actually seen real combat, you quickly realize that it's better to avoid it."

"That's a problem then, because almost all of Inkopolis hasn't seen combat for decades." Arcus pointed out "Right now, most are in favor of war against the Octarians, yet they aren't thinking of the consequences. Even if we deny the Vanguard movement access to Octo valley, there will still be civilians calling for war, eventually they'll demand that the current cabinet steps down so that another can take its place."

"Is this about doing what's right? Or about keeping your job?" Victoria asked

"Both"

Arcus paused a bit at the sight of the strange Inkling wearing a helmet

Instinctively, Victoria looked away.

"Why can't you just reform the Inkopolis army like you wanted to earlier?" Inker asked

"We don't have the budget for that, if we did reform the army then we would have to raise taxes, which means many citizens of Inkopolis will suddenly find themselves in need of work to make ends meet. But if we simply helped the Vanguard movement it would be far cheaper and we could have some sort of army to protect Inkopolis."

In other words, the issue was money.

"And what would happen if the Vanguard movement gets wiped out by the Octarians?" Victoria asked again

"That is why I need to convince the cabinet to support them, we could construct spawn points nearby in Octo Valley, or maybe make more equipment similar to the Hero Suits to allow limited respawns."

"Even if you did that, I don't think it's possible to save everyone in war." Victoria said, still somewhat trying to avoid making eye contact with Arcus.

"Well there is no other option, besides we don't control the Vanguard movement, even if we don't support them, they will still end up attacking Octo Valley."

"But you are the minister of defense." Sky pointed out "Should you be able to do something about it?"

"All I can do is have the IPD stop the Vanguard movement through use of force and if I did that it would ruin our approval rating even further. I'm telling you from a political standpoint, supporting the Vanguard movement is the only option I have."

"It's a bad idea, once the Vanguard movement reaches Octo Valley they will either all be splatted, or rampage through Octo Valley splatting everyone in their wake." Victoria did not want to imagine what a army of angry Inklings could do to Octo valley

"I don't have much of a choice, I can't stop the Vanguard movement and neither can any of the other cabinet members, all we can do is either let them fail or help them succeed, to be honest I'd rather help them out."

"If you do that, you may end up causing the deaths of countless Octarians."

"I can't help it, it's either us or them now, I wouldn't want either side getting hurt, but since its come to this I would rather it be the Octarians."

Kal could see Victoria slowly make a fist.

She may be living in inkopolis now, but she was still an Octoling and a soldier at that, she would not tolerate the Vanguard movement nor any threats to her kind.

'_Is she going to assault the defense minister of Inkopolis?'  
_

But Victoria knew better, sure she wanted to sock that old politician in the face, but doing so may cause unwanted consequences for Kalus and Inker.

Those two had helped her out enough times by now, so she wouldn't do anything to hurt them or their reputations in Inkopolis.

"Well then go ahead, help out those militants, maybe someday you'll be known as the one who allowed the slaughtering of Octarians, or the one who let a bunch of Inklings walk to their deaths."

Arcus blinked and a smug expression made its way to Victoria's face as she noticed Arcus' worry.

Arcus however had already considered that possibility

"Sure that may happen, but if I do nothing then the current ministers will be replaced, honestly I'd rather be known for making a mistake than for doing nothing during a crisis."

Arcus sighed and rubbed his eyebrows, he felt like he had fallen into a hole and couldn't climb back out of it.

Once again he looked at this girl with the helmet, who he had never even seen before yet was criticizing him so much.

Arcus had known about the New Squidbeak Splatoon for a long time, he knew everyone who was apart of it, yet he had never seen this girl before.

The same could be said about the cyan Inkling with glasses, the red Inkling who kept eyeing the helmeted one and the bright green Inkling who seemed to busy doing tricks with her E-Liter to care about their conversation.

'_Though judging by the helmeted girl's understanding of the situation, it wouldn't be unlikely for uncle Craig to recruit her for the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Lucky….' _Arcus concluded

"Well then, I can tell you are all against it, but there is still an issue with the public calling for action against the Octarians."

"If that's the case, then maybe let things develop a bit further, maybe then you can see which choice is right." Victoria had experience behind those words, although she wasn't exactly proud of it.

After all it was by sheer luck that Kal wasn't boiled to death during the time she spent waiting.

As Victoria and Arcus conversed, Neon stopped playing around with her E-Liter and begun eying something in the distance.

"Oh! We got company, watch this!" Neon suddenly interrupted Victoria and Arcus

With a twirl Neon had her back facing Octo Valley, she held her E-Liter 3K behind her head, upside down and pointing and someone in the distance.

She was probably trying to do some sort of trickshot.

As for the being in the distance..

"Ehh! Didn't the captain tell you I would come by?! Why am I being threatened again!?" Lynn cried out as the laser from Neon's E-Liter hovered between her eyes.

She waved her hands in a panic, probably trying to get the attention of Agent 3.

"Hey wa-"

Inker and Kal were both about to stop Neon, but her E-Liter had already charged up.

However Neon put two and two together, realizing that this pony tailed Octoling meant no harm, she quickly lifted her E-Liter, firing directly upwards, the green ink flew up then fell back down on top of her harmlessly.

As Neon happily shook of the ink, Lynn, Kal and Inker all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Umm, I know it's unusual for Octarians to be here, but I will likely be making contact with you often, so please stop welcoming me with sniper fire." Lynn said as she approached the group.

Arcus watched Lynn approach suspiciously, he then turned to Cap'n Cuttlefish with an expression which read '_What have you been doing?'_

Cuttlefish laughed a bit at Arcus' confusion

"Surprising ain't it? After locking up my old pal Octavio, we've been getting some visits from non hostile Octarains. Guess the Calamari Inkantation is doing its work."

Arcus nodded in understanding, but he still seemed uneasy with Lynn standing within firing range, even though Lynn did not have her Octo Shot in her hands.

Inker decided to introduce Lynn to Neon and Sky "Neon, Sky, this is Lynn, I had just met her a few days ago when she requested that the New Squidbeak Splatoon rescue her splatoon from execution."

"Sup" Neon waved

"Nice to meet you" Sky followed

"Nice to meet you too, are you all agents?"

"Nah I just help out every now and then."

"Same here, though I can't really fight."

"Oh, well anyways, the captain sent me here for two reasons and to update you on her progress. We were able to easily find the rest of the splatoon, now we are setting up a small camp somewhere discreet, soon we will start making moves against Octavia."

."Alright then, did you need our help?" Callie asked

"No, the captain does not want to get you involved again, however she does want to invite that Octo-" Lynn was pointing at Victoria when Kal interrupted

"Hey! Okay hold on Lynn, I need to say a few"

But it was too late, Arcus realized immediately what was going on.

"Octoling huh, come to think of it, your eyes are quite different from an Inkling's"

"You didn't know?" Lynn added

Even though she had not seen Arcus before, she predicted that he was some kind of important figure in Inkopolis due to his suit, his posture and because he was speaking with Cap'n Cuttlefish.

"No I didn't."

Now that she was exposed, Victoria was a bit worried, but regardless she calmly removed her helmet.

"Yeah, I'm an Octoling and i'm a former soldier of the Octarian army."

"Well that explains your views on the Vanguard movement."

"Yes, but it's also because I know what the Vanguard movement is thinking. They believe that everything will go their way, that they will head out and be victorious. The same thing happened to me during my time in the army, I along with many other recruits believed we would endure training, splat tons of Inklings and return as heroes, instead we all got massacred by him." Victoria said, pointing at Inker.

"When you put it that way, it makes me feel guilty…" Inker mumbled

"Don't be, we deserve it for being so foolish in the first place."

"I Understand, by the way how long have you been in Inkopolis?" Arcus asked

"Only a bit longer than a week."

"Hmm"

Arcus rubbed his chin, probably wondering how nobody noticed an Octoling in Inkopolis.

Lynn continued her message "Well anyways, the captain would like to invite you to join us in overthrowing Octavia."

'_Overthrowing Octavia, is such a thing even possible?'_ Victoria wondered

Though she wasn't against the idea, but she didn't want to go just yet.

"I'll take some time to consider it. Though you do know why I'm hiding in Inkopolis in the first place."

"Yes we are aware. You are Victoria Holter, who is wanted for treason just like the rest of us, you'd fit in nicely. If you want some time to consider it, that's fine."

Lynn turned to Inker

"My other objective was to find out if you've caught the Octarian spy in Inkopolis yet."

"Octarian spy?!" Arcus exclaimed

Inker nodded

"I need to get this to the IPD immediately." Arcus declared before leaving in a hurry.

"We still have no clue who it might be." Inker said to Lynn

"Well then, I suggest to figure it out quickly, the captain also wanted me to tell you more about Octarian intelligence gathering. Instead of sending in an intelligence officer, they will usually look for either someone who does not stand out, or someone influential, once a candidate as been selected, there are various methods of securing their cooperation ranging from bribes to brainwashing. You should take that into account when searching for the spy."

"Now that Arcus is gone, I guess we can head back to the studio, bye everyone! Stay fresh!"

Doing their signature pose, Callie and Marie left as well.

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Inker asked Lynn

"None at the moment, actually there is something else on my mind."

"Go ahead."

"I have a feeling that the captain is conflicted on whether or not we should seek help from you again."

"While I don't want to bring down another Octarian leader so soon, you should let her know that we don't have to be enemies, so she can ask us for help at any time."

"I don't think it has anything to do with being enemies, rather it has something to do with you being an Inkling. I don't know honestly."

"Nothing I can do about that."

"Yep, well anyways I'll likely be back again after a few days, can you please not welcome me with sniper fire next time?" Lynn eyed Neon

"Hey, it usually happens only once, don't worry about it."

"Only once?"

"She's kinda like that, don't worry about." Victoria assured

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

With Lynn and Arcus gone, Inker and the rest head back for inkopolis to pass the rest of the day.

Unsurprisingly, Neon was quick to challenge Inker again.

"Now that that's over with, come and fight me in the Battle Dojo."

She grabbed Inker's arm and began to pull him away.

"Hey what gives?" Inker asked

"We hadn't dueled in a long time! Besides last time you won three out of five rounds, but i've gotten much MUCH better, see!"

Neon pulled up her ranks on her squid phone.

She had S+ in every ranked event.

Inker on the other hand, had been too busy to play ranked matches, so he was still mostly ranked A, with A+ in tower control.

Though he did have any weapon sets with him at the moment.

"Alright alright, I'll face you in the Battle dojo so stop pulling my arm, I need to go back and get my Splattershot Pro first."

"Why don't you have it with you now?"

"I wasn't planning on running into you, nor playing turf wars right after meeting the Cap'n, give me a sec i'll be right back."

Inker left for his house, leaving Neon with Kalus, Victoria and Sky

"Alright! Hurry back though! It's going to be quite boring without someone to fight with!" Neon yelled after Inker

It was somewhat good to see Neon back to her normal self.

Inker made it back home, grabbed his Splattershot Pro and left for Inkopolis Plaza again.

However by the time he had returned, there was a mob there.

Inklings of various colours and various ages, holding various weapons were gathered in the Plaza.

What were they doing there?

Inker went around them, looking for his friends.

"Hey over here!" Neon waved

Neon didn't seem to care about the sudden mob, she ran up to Inker and asked if he was ready.

"Hold on a sec, what is going on over there?"

"Who cares, let's go to the dojo!"

Sky, Kal and Victoria showed up behind Neon.

Sky and Kal looked at the crowd with equal curiosity, while Victoria seemed a bit nervous.

"It's the Vanguards…." she whispered

Victoria recognized a few of them from yesterday.

"Not that guy again." she added as she spotted Laven approaching them

"Hey guys!" Laven had a completely different reaction to seeing them today.

First off he was happy to see them, and greeted them with open arms as if they were all good friends.

"Laven? what is going on?" Inker asked

"This is the first wave, heading to Octo Valley."

"Already!? And are you saying there are more "waves"?"

"Yup, this is going to be great, by the way, are you sure you don't want to come along? You should be used to Octo Valley."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, no need to hide stuff from me."

Laven quietly whispered "Agent 3"

"Whatever you think you know, it's not what you'd expect." Inker immediately answered.

"Lila told me everything, I can't believe you were the one who not only rescued her, but also retrieved the Great Zapfish and defeated the Octarains' leader."

"What? Well that did happen, but how did Lila know about Octavio?"

"I told her." Kal had a bit of a regretful expression.

"When?"

"At Melanin prison, sorry about that, back then I felt like I wouldn't make it out of there alive, so I had to tell someone."

"That's fine, I guess secrets reveal themselves sooner or later."

"So what do you say? Want to join the first wave of the Vanguard movement?"

"I told you before, no. Anyways you are making a big mistake here, you cannot respawn in Octo valley without the proper gear, not only that but the Octarians don't all fight like Inklings, it's really dangerous for that many Inklings to all go in at once."

"But you beat them all by yourself didn't you?"

"Yes but it wasn't easy, besides they had divided their army to guard each separate Zapfish so it was much easier and I had help from other Agents too."

"Well, we got a forty Inklings who can back each other up, this will be a piece of cake, are you sure you don't want to come along?"

"No, I won't."

"Well suit yourself then, hey when I come back, we should grab a bite together sometime."

"Huh?" '_what a strange twist, first he's crying over his sister, then he can't stand me, now suddenly he's talking to me like i'm his best friend?'_

"Besides, I want to know more about the hero who stopped DJ Octavio." Laven added

"Sure, but be careful, I still suggest you stop this whole Vanguard this now."

"It's too late for that man! We've been planning this and preparing ourselves for too long to stop now, I'll see you all soon! Oh and thanks for saving my sister!"

Holding a Blaster, Laven joined the crowd of Vanguard movement members as they made their way to Octo Valley.

"What should we do?" Sky asked, as the crowd funneled through the manhole.

Inker shook his head

"There is nothing we can do, I just hope that they realise that Octo valley is no turf war and turn back before something bad happens."

"So no dojo?"

Everyone glared at Neon

"Yeah yeah I get it, just joshing ya. We should be following the Vanguard movement right?"

"I will follow the Vanguard movement, you guys just stay here."

"No way i'm going with you!" Neon swung her E-Liter around

"We'll come too." Kal added

"Kal, you and I have no weapons, what good would we do?" Victoria chimed in

"Well then we should hurry back and get some! I still have that Hero headset the Cap'n gave me, once we get back, Inker can tell us where they are."

As Kal planned to run back home, the sound of sirens could be heard, and several police cruisers pulled up around the manhole.

"Now what?"

Inker walked up to a police officer

"Excuse me officer, what is going on?"

"Defense minister Arcus has just ordered us to block off this area, you should stay away from your own safety."

They had been cut off…

* * *

**Octo valley**

"Hey! You shouldn't go any further!, that's Octarian territory!" Cap'n Cuttlefish's warning fell on deaf ears as the forty Vanguard Inklings continued deeper and deeper into Octo valley.

The further they got from Inkopolis, the more tense they felt.

This was a creepy place, dark, gloomy, not at all like Inkopolis.

There were also the sounds of metal twisting and Octarians screaming as more accidents occurs.

Quickly, the Inklings started feeling scared, but they felt safe in their large group.

"Lila, do you recognise this place?"

"Yeah I saw it on the way back."

Both Lila and Laven were there, their parents Wister and Mauve had also come along.

So did the family of Bogs Mire.

As well as several other families of squidnapped Inklings and Inklings who wanted to take matters into their own hands.

Out of the forty Inklings, five of them had actually been squidnapped, the sight of Octo valley again, brought back some bad memories.

"Lila, do you know where to go from here?" someone asked as they reached an industrial area.

"Yeah, I remember seeing this place from the helicopter, we go through here."

Lila led the group through the rig.

The darkened area and abandoned machinery did little to ease the fear.

Some of the younger Inklings had already begun to regret coming here.

As they ventured on, the Inklings became more and more tense as they kept a lookout for Octarians.

"Lila stay close to me." Laven said as he took Lila's hand.

"Are you alright dear?" Mauve asked Laven

"I'm fine mom."

As the huge group of Inklings made their way through Octo valley, they were unaware that the Octarians were expecting them.

Because the Octarians had gotten a message from their spy.

'_Rainbow trout is approaching the slaughterhouse.'_


	23. Intruders

**Octo Valley**

"_The rainbow trout has arrived, all units engage."_

* * *

"They are coming from the right! No the left! No everywhere!"

The first wave of the Vanguard movement came under attack by the Octarian army.

Octotroopers arrived in large numbers some with shielded hovercrafts, Octolings jumped and swam about, Octoballs rolled circles around the group and an Octostriker fired Inkstrikes at the Inklings.

They were caught completely off guard.

Laven and his family stayed close, Laven fired his Blaster at approaching Octoballs to little effect.

The other Inklings also tried their best, but they had no idea what to do.

"Those rolling things! They can't be splatted!"

Nobody had told them about Octoballs, which had to be submerged in ink first to be splatted.

There were also Shielded Octotroopers which needed to be flanked to be splatted, at least that was somewhat easier to figure out.

A tornado of ink struck the center of the Vanguard movement Inklings, splatting several in one blast.

"That was an Inkstrike! Where did it come from!?"

"Up there! They can fly too!?" One of the Inklings pointed at an Octostriker, before being splatted by a shielded Octotrooper.

"We need to find some way to stop those things, otherwise we are screwed!"

"I'll distract them, go try hitting em from the back!"

It was a mess, a few Vanguards were trying to work together, but to little success.

The Octoballs which seemed unaffected by ink, the continuous Inkstrikes fired from the Octostriker and the seemingly unsplattable shielded Octotroopers were picking off the Inklings.

Fear and panic overcame them, some tried to run while other tried to fight back the Octarians.

"What the hell! That shield blocks everything, that is totally unfair!"

"We got bigger problems to worry about!"

As the fighting started Laven, along with Lila, and their parents Wister and Mauve, did their best to stay together.

Laven kept firing and swimming, but the fear was getting to him.

His aim worsened and his legs felt weaker and weaker.

A few moments later he realized that he wasn't with the group anymore.

Where did Lila go? Where did his parents go?

He saw a group of orange Inklings fighting a group of Octotroopers, recognizing them as Bogs' family he tried to group up with them again, but as he approached another tornado of ink came down from the sky wiping out the Inklings before Laven could get to them.

Laven watched as the tornado of ink faded, leaving behind nothing but the clothing and weapons that once belonged to Bogs' family.

He ran away from that place, passing more Inklings fighting for their lives and covering some turf with his Blaster.

Laven frantically looked around at the scene of real battle _'How many of us are left?'_

He came across a bit of purple ink.

"Mom? Lila?"

"Shh"

They were hiding from the Octarians.

Laven changed to his squid form and hid in a puddle of purple ink with his family

"Where's dad?" he asked

"They got him already."

A wave of dread washed over Laven if they weren't in danger, he would have cried.

As more Octarians ran past, the three spotted a few Octotroopers start inking the ground with a happy expression on their faces.

'_Did the others all get splatted?'_

The Octotrooper was getting closer.

"Mom, Lila, we need to get out of here."

He felt Lila to his side, but what about his mother Mauve?

"Mom?"

Laven turned and saw only a puddle of dark magenta where his mother was just a second ago.

'_What the?'_

In a panic Laven took Lila and ran, he blasted the Octotrooper but the noise attracted a few Octoballs which gave chase, rolling quickly towards Laven and Lila.

Laven fired a few shots at the Octoballs but they were only knocked back.

'_What can we do to stop these things?'_

He understood now why Inker was warning him not to go to Octo Valley.

Real battle was not like Turf wars, nothing was fair, nothing was clear, it was just chaos.

If only he'd listened.

"Lila, you need to run, just run anywhere, try to get back to Inkopolis."

Lila nodded

"But what about you?"

"Just go!" Laven gave Lila a push and ran back towards the Octoballs, firing his Blaster wildly.

'_Dammit, why was i so stupid! why didn't I listen to Inker! Why why why!?' _Laven cursed himself as he did his best to hold off the Octarians.

A few Octoballs got stuck in his ink and he was finally able to splat some.

Another Inkstrike hit in the distance, Laven assumed it wiped out more of his fellow Vanguards.

There was a blur as several Octolings superjumped near Laven, they swam after him, tossing splat bombs and firing their Octoshots.

The sight of familiar tactics and weapons was oddly comforting to Laven, even though those Octolings were trying to end his life, it was strangely relaxing to see them fight in a way which he understood.

He kept moving away from the Octarians, firing whenever he had the chance, but he was losing ground, even with a Blaster he was missing as his aim became shakier by the moment.

It wasn't long before he was backed into a corner.

Fear and fatigue finally overcame him as he collapsed to his knees, dropping his Blaster, Laven looked up to see tons of Octarians bearing down on him.

There was not an Inkling in sight.

Not a single silver of hope.

A few Octolings approached him, grinning with the thought of promotion.

Laven began to cry.

He looked up at the Octoling, who raised her Octoshot preparing to finish him off.

'_If only I had listened...'_

* * *

**Kal's home, Inkopolis**

The moon was high, Inklings everywhere were sound asleep by now, But Kal couldn't sleep for some reason.

Something was keeping him up, was it because of the Vanguard movement?

After being unable to sleep for an hour or two, Kal got up and quietly made his way to the washroom, for natural reasons, on his way back to his room though, he heard Victoria called out to him from the living room.

"Can't sleep?" She asked

"Nope, sorry if I woke you."

"You didn't, actually I can't sleep either."

Kal walked into the living room, Victoria was lying on the couch, relaxing with her hands behind her head, but she was wide awake.

Without thinking, Kal flicked on the lights.

"Ow!" Victoria, who's eyes were wide open and staring at the ceiling, was blinded by the light.

"Ahh!" Kal quickly flicked off the lights again

Victoria sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't expect you to be eyeing the light." Kal apologized

"Don't worry about it, just give me a warning next time you do that."

Leaving the lights off, Kal sat with Victoria on the couch

"So what's bothering you anyways?" Victoria asked

"I don't know, it's probably the whole Vanguard thing, I'm probably worried about what's going to happen to them."

"You too huh. Yeah same here, i'm worried for the other Octarians."

"I think they'll be fine, I doubt the Vanguard movement could have gotten very far."

"Why is that?"

"Octo Valley is very different, they way you guys fight is different too, that's why i'm so worried, I feel like a disaster is happening to those Inklings and there was nothing we could have done to stop it. Not only that but with all the attention they are getting, there is no doubt that the Octarian spy alerted the Octarian army."

Kalus hoped that Lila and Laven were alright, maybe the Octarians would just capture them alive and then Inker could go rescue them again.

He also noticed Victoria twitch a bit when he said Octo Valley, maybe she still hasn't gotten over her grief.

"I think the other Octarians are in for a shock, you know I always wondered how Inker could have beaten us so badly back then, but after what you showed me at Inkopolis Tower I think I understand now."

Kal was confused, what did Inkopolis tower have to do with Inker and the Octarian army?

"You've turned the great turf wars into a game and a popular one at that, you use actual weapons of war, but nobody gets permanently splatted. The most skilled players must end up becoming better soldiers than any of the ones we could train."

Kal never thought of it that way.

In his group of close friends, Inker and Neon were the best at turf wars, while Kal himself was average and Sky was well, not very good to say the least.

It all carried over to Octo Valley: Sky knew he couldn't fight well so he stayed with Cap'n Cuttlefish to become their mission control, Inker was able to fight back the Octarian army with minor difficulty and Neon was just unstoppable.

If that's the case, then maybe the Vanguard movement might make it out, abelt with a few losses.

"Are you worried about anyone in Octo Valley?" Kal asked Victoria

Victoria twitched a bit then spoke

"Well there's no one in particular."

"Not even Violet? Didn't you two share an apartment for a long time?"

'_Violet' _Victoria hadn't really thought about her since she came to Inkopolis.

"Well sure she was my roommate, but that's really it, we didn't really see eye to eye."

"Then what is keeping you up?"

"Just the other Octarians in general."

"You miss Octo Valley don't you?"

Victoria twitched again

"Why do you keep doing that? I noticed that you kinda shake a bit everytime someone says Octo Valley." Kal pointed out

"..." Victoria wondered how to respond to that.

"Well I guess I do miss Octo Valley, Inkopolis is great and all, but it just doesn't feel right, I can't go outside without covering up my hair, I can't talk to anyone other than your guys, I feel like I don't belong here… Octo Valley might be a dangerous place, but it's also the only place where I can be myself."

Kal didn't see why Victoria would want to return to Octo Valley, but maybe there is some sort of emotional attachment to that place.

Kinda like how he didn't want to leave Inkopolis.

"Well if you really want to go back, you can always accept Lynn's offer."

"Hmm" Victoria wondered what would happen if she joined Lynn and that famous captain.

Could they really overthrow Octavia?

Even if they did, wouldn't the captain just free Octavio and make war against the Inklings again? After all the captain should still be loyal to Octavio even if she dislikes Octavia.

Victoria couldn't decide what to do, she couldn't pick either side at the moment.

If they do succeed and the Octarians managed to conquer Inkopolis, maybe she could shelter Kal and his friends?

Not like there was any chance of that happening.

"And if things don't go well?"

"Well then you can always come back to Inkopolis, we'll be here for you, promise."

Victoria smiled

"Thanks."

She closed her eyes, feeling a bit more relaxed now than before now that she had the chance to express her thoughts.

Victoria yawned, then unknowingly leaned on Kal's shoulder

She quickly sat upright again

"We should probably try and get some sleep."

"Yeah, I hope we get some good news tomorrow. Good night."

* * *

The first thing Kal did the next day was power on his laptop and try to find out what happened to the Vanguard movement.

It seemed that a few of them made it back, there was a trending article about the Vanguard members returning with a picture of several Inklings, tattered and tired from battle.

They had declined to be properly interviewed.

Looking at the photo, there was about ten or so survivors, Kal recognized Lila in the picture, but could not see Laven anywhere.

Kal could only guess what had happened.

The article also stated that the minister of defense had sent the IPD to close down all routes to Octo Valley, yet they were too late.

Apparently the Inklings that had returned were stricken with grief over the members they had lost, but were planning to learn from their mistakes and plan a better attack.

'_Then they haven't learned anything at all.'_

Kal met Victoria downstairs, where Kal told Victoria the news.

Victoria was somewhat relieved

"I feel sorry for those Inklings who got splatted, but at least they were stopped before they splatted too many Octarians."

It was hard being part of both sides.

Maybe if they could find the Vanguard movement again, they could at least convince the survivors of the first wave to stop attacking Octo Valley.

Both Victoria and Kal wanted to do this, but their previous encounters with the Vanguard movement didn't bode well.

"Actually, that purple guy knows that Inker is Agent 3 now right? Maybe he'll be more reasonable than the others if Inker spoke to him again." Victoria suggested.

"Maybe, well since there is no big event going on everyone else should be in Inkopolis plaza later, we'll ask him then."

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

Kal and Victoria met up with Inker, Sky and Neon as usual.

They had some talk about the Vanguard movement, Inker felt that he should have went with them and saved more of them, Sky felt relieved that any of them made it back at all, Neon on the other hand didn't really have an opinion on the matter and would rather head to the Battle dojo again with Inker.

"Seriously? The Battle dojo again?" Inker asked

"Yeah! Why not?"

"Well maybe because we still have an Octarian spy to deal with and a movement of angry Inklings."

"It's not really our responsibility though, but sure we could do that."

"Not out here though, if we are going to talk about that you should quiet down first."

"Then where else could we go?"

"I don't know, find a more secluded place."

"How about that alleyway where Spyke stays all the time?" Sky suggested

"Oh that's not a bad idea, I still have the super sea snails from the splatfest." Kal added

"I don't think Spyke would like the company though." Inker pointed out

"Well as long as we got sea snails for him, I don't think he'll mind."

As the group made their way to Spyke's alleyway they talked about less concerning things.

Kal was worried about the rumor that the squid sisters might disband soon but didn't want to ask Callie and Marie directly.

Sky asked Victoria if it was possible for her to teach him how to read the Octarian language.

And Neon was going on about her strategy with the E-Liter 3K.

"Looks like I got quite the lineup today, hope you got the goods for it." Spyke said as the five friends showed up.

"Yeah we got super sea snails."

Except Victoria of course, who was confused as to why someone would want super sea snails or what they were doing with this shady guy in the first place.

Spyke put down the screwdriver he was holding and rested his arm on his leg

"A'right then, what do y'need."

"Oh Oh!" Neon exclaimed

"Quiet down, you'll attract attention."

"Sorry~ Anyways do you think you could find a Varsity Jacket like the one she is wearing? With the same abilities too?" Neon pointed at the Varsity Jacket Victoria was wearing.

"Sure i'll put in an order for one."

"And reroll this straw boater please."

"Yeah a'right gotcha."

While Neon made use of Spyke, VIctoria was looking up at Inkopolis tower again.

She had been back here before once, would this Spyke character remember her from then?

As she was worrying about it she heard an unfamiliar voice. "Alright everyone, put your hands up."

Everyone turned to see an Inkling blocking the alleyway.

No it wasn't an Inkling, it was wearing Inkling clothes and had its tentacles hidden beneath an Inkling's hat, but it did not have the black lining between the eyes.

It was an Octoling, disguised as an Inkling.

'_Why are there Octolings here?'_

"You heard me! Put em up!"

As the Octoling kept threatening Inker and company, Spyke pulled a Splat bomb out of nowhere, and tossed it at the Octoling before she could even react.

"Huh?" The Octoling had just seen the splat bomb before it burst, splatting her

There was more than one though.

Several more Octolings arrived, all with Inkling gear.

Neon had already drawn her E-Liter after the first one showed up, she took out another Octoling as soon as it rounded the corner.

Inker joined in with his Splattershot pro, and in this straight forward alleyway, Neon could not possibly miss.

After two more Octolings showed up and got splatted, they could hear the others run off.

"What was that?" Inker wondered

He was briefly interrupted by Spyke, who shoved him aside as he ran off somewhere, probably to avoid attention.

A few seconds later a few other Inklings showed up, attracted to all the noise.

"What happened here?"

They looked at the splotches of ink, the Inkling clothes on the ground, and Inker, Neon, Kalus, Sky and Victoria.

Inker and Neon had their weapons drawn, and there was a ton of ink and gear on the ground.

They could not have possibly known that there were Octolings disguised as Inklings.

"Hey someone call the cops!"

"No wait, this is a misunderstanding!" Inker tried to explain

"What happened to Spyke? Did you spat him?" the Inkling asked

"No he took off when the Octolings showed up."

"Octolings? Here? That's ridiculous."

"I'm telling the truth! This was out of self defense!"

It was no use though, the police soon arrived and fingers were pointed at Inker and Neon, who were the only ones holdings weapons at the time.

The officers questioned everyone else present.

Inker and Neon maintained their innocence claiming that they had been attacked Octolings and acted out of ht self defense.

But the lack of Octoling armor and Octoshots made it hard to believe.

"They are telling the truth, I was surprised when it happened, had they not splatted them I think we would not be here now." Kal said to one of the officers.

Sky was also saying the same thing, "Yes it's hard to believe and yes there are no cameras back there, but there really were Octolings!"

Victoria was also being questioned and she had it the worst because if they decided to take her back to the station and remove her helmet, it would be the end for all of them.

Despite that, she wasn't going to lie to find a way out.

"There were Octolings here, no this wasn't some planned crime, somehow Octolings have managed to sneak into Inkopolis."

However they were asked a difficult question

"What were you doing in that alleyway in the first place?"

The majority of Turf War players knew about Spyke, but not the authorities.

"Well it's uh, a quiet place to hang out." Neon lied

"Yeah, nobody really goes there anyways and its not some restricted area." Inker followed up

However Victoria did not know about Spyke at all, she still assumed that he was some homeless creature living in poverty until today.

"There was some shady guy back there selling something."

And so, Inker and Neon were taken away, while Kal, Victoria and Sky were lectured about dealing with the black market and let off with a warning.

They watched as Inker and Neon were driven away.

"Umm, did I say something wrong?" Victoria asked

"You have no idea do you? That guy Spyke might seem creepy and the stuff he does seems shady, but he doesn't exactly do anything illegal, he just doesn't want to be hounded by big companies for his skills related to rerolling gear. Its just that the way you phrased it sounded really suspicious." Sky explained

"Oh…."

"Don't worry, it won't take them long to figure out that Inker and Neon weren't trying to buy anything illegal and they'll run tests on the gear left behind to find out who was splatted, it may be a while, but they'll realize that we were telling the truth."

"Yeah but still, I just got them arrested."

"They'll be fine, its Inker and Neon we are talking about after all, Inker has some good connections and Neon is a really good fighter. They won't be gone for long."

"Okay, but I think we should leave, I have a feeling those Octolings will be back again."

"Yeah good idea."

* * *

**Precinct 15, Inkopolis**

While Sky, Kalus and Victoria went home, Inker had to call Cap'n Cuttlefish and explain what was going on.

Since Neon and Inker had been cooperative, they were allowed to make a reasonable amount of phone calls before their questioning.

"Cap'n I need your help."

"What happened?"

"I kinda got arrested?"

"Arrested? Well sorry 'bout that, but I can't have criminals in the New S-"

"Hey I didn't do anything wrong okay! Look there were Octolings and I splatted them."

"Octolings? In Inkopolis again?"

"Yes, but this time they were disguised as Inklings instead of wearing Octoling armor and using Octoshots, so now they think I splatted another Inkling."

"What? How did the Octarians get gear as fresh as ours?"

"I don't know but can you at least come and vouch for me or something? Oh and Neon is here too."

"Yeah alright i'll come over in a while and have a word with the officers."

"Thanks"

There was an officer who was waiting for him to finish his call.

"Do you still claim that you were attacked by Octolings, and that you were not dealing with illegal substances in that alleyway?"

"Yes."

"Alright then, follow me."

The officer led Inker to a interrogation room, where Neon was already seated.

Despite being in jail Neon remained as cheerful as ever and waved to Inker as he was brought in.

Inker had an urge to ask how the heck she was able to stay happy in this state.

The room was similar to the last one he had been in, back when detective Vert was questioning them on the squidnapped Inklings.

There was a one way window so that others could watch and listen to them, usually a detective or another officer in charge of investigating the crime.

"They are the ones being suspected?"

"Yes, they were found in an alleyway welding weapons and standing over several puddles of ink, a witness told us that they were dealing with someone, however they claim that they were not dealing with anything illegal and acted in self defense when a group of Octolings disguised as Inklings showed up."

"Did you run tests on the remains of the splatted creatures?"

"Not yet, but we doubt that we will find Octoling DNA."

"You will."

"Hey wait, defense minister, don't go in there yet."

Inker and Neon's questioning was interrupted by a buzzer as the doors unlocked and Defense minister Arcus walked in.

"Those two are innocent, release them."

* * *

Under orders from Arcus, Inker and Neon were released while the forensics started investigating the remains of sea creatures splatted in the alleyway.

"You know, nobody ever claims to be attacked by Octolings wearing Inkling clothes, so when I heard that an individual arrested for a suspected crime claimed to be attacked by Octolings, I needed to come immediately. You could imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw you two."

"Sorry about that, but we really didn't do anything wrong." Inker explained, while Neon was busy getting her stuff back from an officer.

"I believe the Octoling part, but what about the other thing about dealing with illegal substances?"

"That was a misunderstanding, we were just meeting a street urchin who could reroll the sub abilities on our gear for super sea snails."

"Rerolling abilities huh, someone can actually do that without buying a copy of the same gear?"

"Yeah, I think so, that's probably why he doesn't want too many squids to find out about him."

"Well then I won't look to far into it, what i'm worried about is the Octolings in Inkopolis, how could they have gotten past Cuttlefish?"

"I have no idea."

"I should let him know.'

"He knows already, actually he was coming to bail us out before you showed up."

"Guess I saved him the trip then, but if there really is Octoling in Inkopolis we will probably have to lock down the city again."

"WHAT!?" Neon shouted, possibly startling everyone in the building.

Everyone turned and stared at Neon, who covered her mouth and said "oops, sorry"

After that she retrieved her custom E-Liter 3k, her dark urban vest and her squash headband before leaving to change.

"I'm going to save her the trouble of asking, how long will it be before the city goes on lockdown again?" Inker asked

"I already told them to speed up the investigation, so it won't be any longer than a day."

"Alright, well thanks for your help, I need to call the Cap'n and let him know he doesn't need to come here anymore."

* * *

**Kal's home, Inkopolis**

Kal and Victoria didn't head out anymore for the day, it was almost night time when Kal got a text from Inker letting him know that he and Neon were released and that he should expect a lockdown of Inkopolis again soon.

Not that it would bother him much, but Kal felt bad for whoever would break the news to Neon.

At least it wasn't him.

Kal called out to Victoria

"Hey Victoria, good news Inker and Neon were just released."

"Oh that's great. Actually can we see them again tomorrow?"

"Of course, they're always around."

"Good, cause i've been wondering, is it really by sheer coincidence that we were the ones attacked by Octolings?"

"What are you saying."

"I think they were after me."

"Come on now, no need to be paranoid, there is no way they could have known about you."

"There's a spy somewhere in Inkopolis remember? What if that spy can recognize me through that helmet?"

Victoria was genuinely worried, what would have happened if Inker and Neon weren't there?

Maybe Kal would have been splatted and she would have been brought back to Octo Valley, forcefully changed to a different colour and shot in front of a crowd.

She looked at Kal, the kind Inkling who had been helping her out ever since she got lost in Inkopolis.

Was she endangering him just by living here?

"I'm calling it a day, see you tomorr-"

Kal was interrupted by the sudden sound of glass shattering

'CRASH!'

"What the!?" Kal exclaimed.

'CRASH!'

More windows broke, as Octolings came crashing into Kal's house.

Their first action was to shoot at Kal

"No!"

Victoria leapt to Kal's defense, blocking the dark magenta ink from striking Kal

Victoria would not be hurt by another Octoling with the same ink colour are her, so she protectively hugged Kal, blocking a barrage of ink

The Octolings knew they could not splat Victoria, so two of them approached her and tried to grab her.

As soon as they got closer, Victoria let go of Ka and punched the first Octoling she saw.

Kal ran upstairs to his room, narrowly avoiding being shot on his way up while Victoria engaged in hand to hand combat.

He shut the door to his room, and quickly blocked it with his desk.

He heard the door slam against his desk as the Octolings tried to get inside, quickly, he grabbed his Heavy Splatling and put on an ink tank.

Instead of going back out the door, Kal leapt out his window, then entered back inside from a window that the Octolings had broken.

Victoria was having a hard time fighting the other Octolings with her bare hands.

Kal quickly spun up the Heavy Splatling and fired towards them, being careful not to splat Victoria.

Kal splatted one Octoling while the others backed away, Victoria took the change to grab her helmet and run.

There was a splotch of red ink on her.

"D-did I hit you?" Kal asked

Victoria didn't stop "Don't worry about it, just run!"

Kal wished he had picked his Slosher because it was hard to run with a Heavy Splatling, Victoria grabbed him and pulled him along.

Once outside they ran a good distance from Kal's home, constantly looking back in case they were followed.

It seems like the Octolings weren't planning on chasing them outside.

Noticing that they had gotten away, Victoria and Kal stopped in the middle of the street to catch their breath.

There was hardly anyone around at this hour, anyone who saw them would probably assume they had just came back from a late game of turf wars.

"Huff….. what was that? …..Huff…... How did they know." Kal said, tired and still a bit shocked at what just occurred.

"I told you, they were after me, that spy must have figured out who I am and snuck those Octolings here." Victoria didn't seem as tried as Kal.

"huff…...But who….huff…... could have known?"

"We will worry about that later, first we need to get somewhere safe."

"Huff… Yeah I got it."

* * *

**Inker's house, Inkopolis**

There was a quiet knock on Inker's door, strange since it was dark out already.

Looking through the peephole Inker saw Kal and Victoria.

He opened the door.

Kal was sweating and out of breath lugging his Heavy Splatling with him, he also had some dark magenta ink on him, but not nearly as much as Victoria had on her. Victoria looked completely soaked in dark magenta ink, there were also a bit of red ink too.

"Whoa, what happened? You two didn't get into a fight did you?" Inker was surprised, he let the two inside and locked the door.

"They came to my house…..." Kal said, now that he was safe he could start feeling angry, angry at the fact that the Octolings had trashed his home.

"What?"

"The Octolings, they came to my house." Kal grit his teeth

He felt violated, his home was the one place where he could relax in safety and privacy. But whatever semblance of safety his house provided was shattered along with the windows when the Octolings broke in. Even though he was tired from running Kal slammed a wall in anger.

"My freaking house! You know what that's like? I can't go home anymore." Kal screamed

"Alright, I'm shocked, I don't know what to say, are you sure nobody followed you?" Inker peeked outside

"I have no idea."

"I didn't see anyone" Victoria added. "But we can't let our guard down, i'm certain that those Octolings are here for me. We won't have seen the last of them"

She looked down and muttered, "If i'm here, then nowhere is safe.."

Inker wondered how those Octolings got inside Inkopolis in the first place.

He put a hand on Victoria's shoulder and gave her a comforting smile.

"Don't worry, you can count on me: Agent 3, to keep the other Octolings away."

Inker looked at the two, who were both tired and dirty.

"Well then, you guys get cleaned up and have a rest, i'll stay up tonight in case the Octolings show up again. Just leave it to me." Inker suggested

Kal agreed "Sure, but it kinda feels unfair."

"How about we take turns instead, you stay up until midnight then switch with me, I'm trained to fight with minimal rest anyways." Victoria suggested

"Yeah good idea, and wake me up at like four or something and I'll keep watch." Kal added

"Then it's settled, you two should probably shower and get all that ink off first, i'll be here in case anything happens." Inker said as he picked up his Hero shot and being shutting the curtains, taking one last peek outside.

"Suits me" Kal said, before heading off to the washroom.

Once he was done Victoria went inside to get washed up, after that she volunteered to sleep on the couch, so Kal slept in Inker's room while Inker stayed awake with his Hero Shot in his hands.

By 10 PM everything had gone quiet, Kal and Victoria both fell asleep quickly while Inker sat in his dining room alone.

10:30 PM, Usually at this time, everyone would be just getting to sleep, therefore even the quietest noise could wake them up, so Inker sat alone watching the time go by.

11 PM, Inker quietly did a tour of the house, he didn't check his room though as to not wake Kal, he also made sure to move quietly as to not disturb Victoria.

11:30 PM, Inker was bored sitting alone in the dark on guard duty, every now and then he would take a peek outside looking for anyone hanging around.

12 PM, Inker was supposed to wake Victoria by now, but he felt that it would be better to let her sleep a bit more, so he waited a bit longer.

12:30 AM, Inker gently poked Victoria's arm, "Hey are you awake?"

VIctoria rolled over and yawned

"Is it time already."

"Yep, take your time to wake up, I'm not going anywhere."

Victoria stretched a bit while Inker removed his Ink tank and emptied the contents, once Victoria was up he offered her the Hero Shot.

Victoria's eyes widened in surprise when Inker offered her the weapon.

"Really? Your Hero Shot?"

Inker nodded "It shouldn't be too different from the Octoshots you normally use, so I think you'll me fine with it."

"But this is the Hero Shot."

"I know, I'm trusting you with it."

Victoria had surprised WOW expression, the same expression anyone would have if they were suddenly surprised with an expensive gift.

She took the Hero Shot and equipped an Ink tank while Inker went to sleep on the couch.

1 AM, Victoria sat idly deep in thought. _'To think that I would be welding the Hero Shot…' _she stared at the weapon in disbelief.

_'Agent 3… you are too trusting, did you forget that I'm the reason why we need to stay on our guard tonight?'_

She looked at Inker sleeping soundly on his couch.

'_Then again, the whole reason why I wasn't splatted back when we first was because you were too trusting.'_

1:30 AM, As Victoria silently patrolled the house she could hear light breathing as she passed by the couch and the bedroom.

A peaceful sound it was.

Inkopolis was a peaceful place, well it was until she got involved.

2 AM, Victoria removed her Ink tank and quietly headed for the door….

If anyone wanted to move unseen this would be the best time because everyone would be in a deep sleep, it would be difficult to wake someone at this time.

Victoria knew this, because during her time as an Octollng soldier she had erratic sleep schedules and noticed that everyone had trouble getting up at this time.

If you tried sneaking around before 1 AM it would be easy to wake everyone as they would just be getting to sleep, but if you tried sneaking around past 4 AM there would be the same result as everyone would be starting to wake up.

Victoria put on the Tentacles helmet she wore so often in Inkopolis, before heading out she looked back at the Hero Shot Inker had entrusted her with.

She had left it on the dining table, because it would be problematic for Inker if the Octolings were to get ahold of it.

She was planning to turn herself in.

Whatever semblance of security Inkopolis offered her was destroyed the moment those Octolings started showing up, the longer she stayed the longer she endangered those near her.

'_Kalus, Inker, both of them grew up here, a place with hardly any problems, a padded and gilded city where you didn't need to worry. To think that they would both end up worrying so much about my problems, they really are good creatures and not the hellspawn Octavio made them out to be.'_

Victoria looked back, they really deserve better, they shouldn't have to stay up at night worrying for their lives.

She left Inker's house, gentilly closing the door behind her to avoid making noise.

Looking ahead, Victoria was greeted by the night scene of Inkopolis, she could even see the Great Zapfish on top of Inkopolis tower in the distance.

She smiled, taking in its majestic sight, then headed back to Kal's house, where she would likely find the Octolings again.

'_Looks like i'll see Octo Valley soon.'_


	24. Under Pressure

**Kal's house, Inkopolis**

"They say the suspect always returns to the scene of the crime, but this is first time I've heard about a victim returning."

Victoria was met with several Octolings when she returned to Kal's damaged house.

They were searching his house for something.

"I'm the one you want right? Well i'm here now." Victoria said, removing her Tentacles helmet.

"Oh, no wonder we couldn't splat you….' one of them muttered

Victoria was confused, it almost sounded like the Octoling didn't know who she was until she took off her helmet.

"What? Didn't you break in to Kal's home because you knew I was there?"

"No, we were after the red Inkling living here, he had information we needed but this works too. Victoria Holter, you are under arrest for treason against the state, put your hands behind your head, interlock your fingers."

* * *

**Inker's home, the next day**

When Kal woke up there was light seeping through the curtains.

'_Wasn't Victoria supposed to wake me up at four?'_

Kal got up quickly and headed downstairs.

Inker was still asleep and Victoria was nowhere to be found.

Something was wrong, Kal quickly checked every other room in the house.

Victoria was nowhere to be found.

There was an Ink tank with her dark magenta ink left on the dining table, along with Inker's Hero Shot.

'_What had happened?'_

"Inker! Wake up! Wake up! Wake UP!"

Kal shook Inker awake

"Okay okay, What's wrong? Are the Octolings here?" he asked

"No not that, Victoria is gone!"

"Huh?"

Inker looked around

It was daytime, Kal stood in front of him looking incredibly worried.

Victoria was nowhere to be found, the Hero Shot and Ink tank he gave her sat on his dining table.

Victoria's Tentacles helmet was also gone, she wouldn't have taken it unless she went out.

But just to be sure, Inker had to ask. "She didn't wake you at four?"

"No, I woke up and the sun was up, I couldn't find any trace of her."

"Hmm" Inker pondered

'_Victoria mentioned that the Octolings were likely after her, could she have went out on her own to protect us?'_

He glanced at Kal

'_The two of them have been getting closer recently, it would make sense of VIctoria to try and protect Kal.'_

"What's on your mind? Do you know where she could have gone?" Kal anxiously asked

"Victoria probably gave herself up so that we wouldn't be caught in the crossfire….."

"COD DAMMIT! Why would she do something so unnecessary."

Kal grabbed his Heavy Splatling and Ink tank and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to my house, maybe we can find some clue as to where those Octolings went."

"Alright, i'm with you hold on a sec." Inker said, taking the Hero Shot off the table and concealing it under a jacket.

"Come on, let's hurry."

* * *

**Kal's house, Inkopolis**

"Man, they really did a number on this place…" Inker commented as he saw the state of Kal's house.

The house was a mess.

The Octolings had broken almost every window in the ground floor to enter, not only that but they had been searching for something in Kal's house, so they had taken everything out of place and scattered it everywhere.

The Ink from last night had already vanished without a trace, but everything else was still there.

Kal stepped into his trashed house, there were crunching noises under his feet as he trodded on broken glass.

He had never seen his home in such a state, not even Victoria messed it up this bad.

"Whoa! What happened?" came the voice of a passing neighbour.

"I have no idea, I was at a friend's house yesterday, did you see anything?" Kal asked

"Nope, we were away as well, looks like some kind of burglar broke in or something, you should probably call the police."

"Yeah, i'll do that."

As the neighbour left, Kal toured his damaged home.

The door to his room was still blocked by the desk on the other side, Kal wanted to go inside and retrieve something lighter than the Heavy Splatling but decided not to and returned to the living room.

Books, clothes, plates, and various other things were scattered all over the place.

Kal wondered why the Octolings had taken the time to mess up his house so bad, probably to send a message.

The clothes caught his eye, it was the one that one of the disguised Octolings was wearing when she was splatted by Kal.

They were definitely sold in Inkopolis, the only question is how the Octolings managed to get ahold of it.

Victoria's family album was also among the wreckage, lying open and faced down on the floor.

Kal picked it up and flipped through it, then he gave it to Inker.

"If we are going to tell the IPD about this, we can't have anything related to Victoria sitting in my home."

Inker nodded and the two searched for Victoria's bag, before calling the police.

When they had arrived, Inker had left, taking Victoria's bag and family album with him, Kal stayed to answer questions and claim that he was not present at the time of the break in, which is why he did not call them sooner.

Once they were done talking to Kal, the IPD begun their investigation, while Kal returned to Inker's home.

They didn't find anything that could lead them to Victoria.

"DAMMIT! Why would she go off on her own!"

"Calm down Kal, all we can do now is put our heads together and figure out who the Octarian spy is."

Kal took a deep breath, "Yeah sure, okay, I'm calm, oh I know! Neon did pretty good at finding Victoria back then, she could probably help out, I'm going to the plaza."

Once again Kal left in a hurry, leaving Inker to chase after him.

* * *

**Inkopolis plaza**

Kal ran into Neon as she was looking up at a TV screen, watching the squid sisters annonce the ranked maps for the day.

"Neon!"

"Hmm? Oh hiya Kal, what's going on?"

"Listen I need your help, you were pretty good at detective work a while ago right? Well I need you to help us find the Octarian spy in Inkopolis and fast."

Kal didn't even care if anyone could hear him, luckily nobody paid attention and his voice got lost with the other sounds of the plaza.

Neon looked confused for a moment

"Umm okay, what do you know about this spy?"

Kal thought for a second

What did he find out about Octarian spies?

He did hear Lynn explain that the Octarians liked to seek out influential creatures or those who blended in well.

The spy would also have to have known about Victoria staying with him.

Was that really all? It wasn't much to go off of.

As Kal told all he knew to Neon, Neon thought hard, but she hadn't been present in the past few days so she couldn't think of anything. Being given so little clues didn't help either.

"How am I supposed to find a spy just like that? You know that brain work isn't my strong suit."

"Yeah but you found VIctoria back then?"

"Well back then it was because I was really motivated and I had time. Hey look! Here comes Inker and Sky."

Neon waved to her friends, but Kal was impatient.

"Okay forget about them, can you just please try and help me out here?"

"I'm trying i'm trying, but it's too hard I would need more time, try asking Sky or Inker."

Kal shook Neon "I don't have time!" he quieted down again to avoid attracting attention.

"Yesterday those Octolings that attacked us showed up at my house, they were after Victoria, now Victoria's gone! The only way we can find her in time, is if we find out who the spy is!"

"Ohhh! Okay that makes sense." Neon grinned

Kal could tell what she was thinking.

"No, I am not in love with her, I'm just worried for her well being. You said you needed motivation? Well Arcus knows that there are Octolings here and he'll be putting Inkopolis on lockdown again soon."

'_Wait Arcus?' _Kal realized something.

Neon's eyes widened when she heard the word "lockdown" she didn't want to be stuck without turf wars again.

And even if she did, at least let it happen where there was a lot of fighting needed in Octo Valley.

"Okay I'll try my best!" Neon said, but Kal was too deep in thought.

'_Arcus knows Victoria's identity, he's an influential Inkling and he also bolted the moment Lynn mentioned a spy….'_

"Hey what's goi-"

Kal left before Sky could finish his sentence.

"Hey! Where are you going now?!" Neon called out to Kal as he ran for the manhole to Octo Valley.

Kal disappeared through the manhole.

Neon turned to Sky and Inker, who had just arrived.

"What's up with him?" Sky asked

"Oh Kal? His girlfriend got captured by the spy or something."

"Oh no, don't tell me he's charging into Octo Valley to find her…."

That got Neon's attention.

"I hadn't thought of that! We should follow him! I bet I'll splat more than any of you!" Neon said excitedly and charged at the manhole with her E-Liter held high.

"Why did you have to mention Octo Valley to Neon…." Inker complained

"Sigh, here we go again." Sky said as he and Inker both went after Neon and Kal.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

"What do you mean you can't just speak with Arcus?!"

"Arcus has things to do, I can't just call him to come over here."

By the time Neon, Sky and Inker arrived, Kal was already shouting at the Cap'n.

He was really going too far.

"Kal calm down, we are all worried about Victoria but you are being way to hasty, what does Arcus have to do with anything?"

Kal looked at his friends, who did not understand why he was demanding Cap'n Cuttlefish to find Arcus for him.

"Don't you get it? Arcus is the spy, he has to be!"

"What? But that makes no sense! Why would Arcus be an Octarian spy?"

Before Kal could explain his attention turn to the manhole behind Inker and others

For some reason Arcus had shown up.

"Umm is this a bad time?"

"YOU!"

Kal immediately pointed his Heavy Splatling at Arcus.

"What the?" Inker exclaimed

Arcus, shocked, raised his hands.

"Whoa easy there buddy, what's wrong?"

"Don't buddy me! I know you are the spy working for the Octarians! What did you do to Victoria?!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Just yesterday she and I were attacked by Octolings in Inkopolis TWICE! Now she's gone."

"Kal stop that, do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?" Inker said "Why would Arcus be an Octarian spy?"

"I don't know, but he fits the bill doesn't he? An influential figure who knows that Victoria is an Octoling."

"That isn't nearly enough to prove anything!"

"Yes it is, nobody else knows about Victoria."

"If I thought that Octoling was a threat to national security I would have sent the IPD, not make a deal with the Octarians." Arcus countered

"No, I think you were working for them before all this, how else do you explain the IPD conveniently showing up to block off Octo Valley just after the Vanguard movement passed by?"

"The IPD just got there late!"

"Really? Cause I think you were trying to stop us from helping them, I think the IPD was sent to trap the first wave of the Vanguard movement in Octo Valley. Isn't that why you were so eager to support them?"

Even though he was held at gunpoint, Arcus remained calm.

"I wanted to support them because we needed a cheap army to appease the public."

"Then what about when Lynn came over? You ran the moment she mentioned an Octarian spy because you didn't want to get found out."

"I left because I'm the minister of defense, I'm supposed to be able to stop spies from getting in!"

"Kal stop it, you are pointing a weapon at the minister of defence, do you know how serious of a crime that is?"

"He won't be the minister of defense for long."

This was going nowhere fast

Inker wondered if he would have to subdue Kal with force.

Sure he might be his best friend, but this was a ranking politician he was threatening.

Neon stepped forward and put a hand on Kal's shoulder.

"Kal, you are doing the exact same thing I did with Victoria three months ago."

Kal flashed back to that day, when Neon burst into his house and tried to splat Victoria.

He remembered that scene way too clearly and sure enough it was reflected here.

Only he wasn't pointing a weapon at someone over something as trivial as turf wars!

"No i'm not, I'm not trying to splat him, I just want to know where Victoria is."

"And how would he know? You don't really think he's the spy do you?"

"Who else could it be but him? He is the only one who knows about Victoria and Lynn said that spies are usually those good at blending in or an influential person."

"Maybe, but then how do you explain the coming lockdown as well as bailing Inker and I out of jail?"

"I bet he's waiting till after the Octolings slip out to lock down Inkopolis."

Neon looked at Arcus, expecting him to respond.

"Actually no, the lockdown is happening now, I just came to make sure Cuttlefish didn't have any agents in Octo Valley."

Neon looked back at Kal as if to say "you see"

Kal lowered his Splatling a bit

"Yeah no, not buying it."

"Kal stop it, I know you want to find Victoria, but this is going nowhere, the spy clearly isn't Arcus so just put down the splatling and we'll find VIctoria together."

In truth Kal was already convinced that it wasn't Arcus, but he had no other leads, so he kept on accusing on the off chance that it really was Arcus.

But Neon was right, he was making the same mistake she did, acting too hastily and jumping to conclusions.

Kal silently lowered his weapon.

"Ya see Arcus? Someone like you shouldn't be going around without bodyguards." Cuttlefish joked

Kal ignored the old squid "But if it isn't Arcus, then who could it be? There is nobody else that knows about Victoria."

"Really? Maybe there is someone like me, who put the pieces together and figured it out." Neon suggested.

"I don't think so, so far nobody has been able to tell Victoria's real identity and I never told anyone. Did any of you tell someone?"

Neon, Sky and Inker all shook their heads.

Kal threw his Heavy Splatling down in frustration

"DAMMIT! Who could it be!? ARGH!"

Arcus, despite being falsely accused still stood by and watched.

As did Inker and Sky.

Neon however stood by Kal.

"Come on, don't give up yet, did you really tell no one about Victoria? Not even your family?"

"No of course not, I never even mentioned knowing an Octo- ..."

Kal went silent, he had an epiphany

He didn't tell anyone about Victoria….

But he did tell someone else about an Octoling….

That someone had also recently become an influential Inkling, who's very existence helped create the Vanguard movement and start protests for an Inkopolis army, yet she was also able to blend in well since she wasn't someone important like Arcus.

"No."

Kal buried his face in his hands.

He didn't want to believe it.

'_After what the Octarians did to her, there was no way she could be the spy, it's just not possible.'_

But the Inkling he had in mind fit Lynn's description.

That Inkling also knew that he had an Octoling friend.

It also explained why they were attacked by Octolings twice in a day and why the Octolings had messed up his house.

They didn't know Victoria by name, but after mentioning an Octoling helping out Inker at Melanin prison, it wasn't hard to put two and two together.

As Kal crouched on the ground with his face buried in his hand, Neon walked closer and poked him.

"Hey hey, you figured it out didn't you?"

Kal stood back up, visibly shocked.

He didn't look at anyone, his eyes stared off into nothing and his hands trembled.

"I think I know who the spy is…."

"Oh that's great! Good job! Now why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Neon gave Kal a hearty slap on the back, before tilting her head in confusion.

Kal looked up, slowly he uttered the words that he himself didn't want to believe.

"It's the girl we rescued from Octo Valley, Lila Fields."

"Hmm? But didn't her family create the Vanguard movement?" Sky asked

"Yeah but that's the thing, the Octarians had been trying to provoke us into attacking them before, the Vanguard movement was doing the same thing. Besides, remember how Lila was not in the cells at Melanin prison? Who knows what was done to her at that time."

Inker, Sky and Neon exchanged glances.

They couldn't really deny Kal's theory.

Kal turned to Arcus "I'm sorry for threatening you like that, but I need you to do me a favor, can you find out where Lila is? And also, lock down Inkopolis so that no one can leave."

Arcus nodded "The lockdown was about to start anyways, but maybe you should leave this to the IPD."

"No, I don't want anyone else finding out about Victoria, please, I know its alot to ask, but keep this secret." Kal begged

"Well alright, It's not like I can talk about what happened here in public, but I still need some sort of story for the press."

"You can't just keep this a secret?"

"Not all of it, I'll send a team of officers I can trust to keep a secret and make some arrests after you get your Octoling friend back."

"Thanks, I'm really sorry about the confusion."

"Don't worry about it, if it had happened in public you would have been arrested on the spot, but we can keep what happens here a secret."

Everyone returned to Inkopolis, Cap'n Cuttlefish went to bunk with Callie and Marie again, while Arcus set to work.

* * *

**Inkopolis**

A few minutes later, Kal, Neon, Sky and Inker got a call from Arcus.

"Apparently Wister, Mauve and Laven Fields all haven't used their squid-phones ever since going to Octo valley, but Lila's phone is still on, i'll send you the address."

As Lila's address popped up in Kal's phone, Sky immediately began searching for directions.

Arcus had more to say.

"It seems that you were right, Lila's recent text messages have all been from someone using detective Vert's number, instructing her to do things and saying that it would be appreciated. You guys have half an hour before my team moves on the house."

* * *

**Fields family household, Inkopolis.**

In the basement of the house stood seven Octolings and an Inkling.

All of them wore Inkling clothes.

But only one was tied to a chair.

The other six paced about impatiently.

Another one came running in.

"Bad news, Inkopolis is being put on lockdown, we'll have to lay low for a while before taking Holter back for trial."

The other Octolings grumbled, but they had no other choice but to wait.

"Why are we even taking the traitor back for trial? Just have Lila splat her and be done with it." One complained

"The Acting Leader said she wanted Holter alive, she is not to be executed until after she is questioned by the Elites." A black tentacled Octoling replied

She seemed to be leading the group here, she was also probably an Elite Octoling who wasn't wearing any seaweed to blend in with the Inklings.

Victoria said nothing, quietly listening to the Octolings discuss their plans for her.

She looked at the little Inkling sitting in the corner.

'_The would have never expected a victim of the Octarians to be working for them.' _Victoria thought

After all the Inkling looked really young and innocent.

Also she was scarred all over.

Everything about her screamed victim.

Too bad.

There was a knock on the door, which startled the Octolings as there was no reason for anyone to visit them.

"We are going to get caught." one paranoid Octoling muttered

"We are not getting caught." the Elite Octoling replied, she then turned to Lila and with a smile she said.

"Lila, if you answer the door and drive away whoever is there, it would be much appreciated."

Lila immediately stood up and skipped her way upstairs.

"What did you do to her?" Victoria asked

"That's none of your business." the Elite Octoling replied.

"Last time I checked, she was being used as bait for Agent 3, so why is it that she's helping you so eagerly?"

"You want to know? Why don't you go ask your fellow traitor, the disavowed Captain Vale, now would someone gag her?"

An Octoling immediately gagged Victoria.

Meanwhile upstairs, Lila greeted Kal and the others at the door.

"Kal! What a surprise! What are you doing here?"

"Hi Lila, actually we wanted to talk to Laven about the Vanguard movement, is he here?"

Lila's mind went blank, she couldn't recall where Laven went.

"Sorry but he hasn't been around recently."

"Didn't he make it back from Octo Valley?"

Once again Lila could not remember, but she believed that Laven had to be alive somewhere, probably with her parents too.

"Yes he did."

Or did she just want to believe that?

"Then where is he?"

She was there when it all went down

"I-I don't know…."

'_No I saw nothing.'_

"Well alright then, give me a call when he gets back."

"Sure! Bye!"

Lila closed the door, then skipped downstairs again.

"Are they gone?"

"Yep!"

"Good girl."

The paranoid Octoling breathed a sigh of relief, while another laughed.

"You see, there is nothing to be afraid of, it's probably some friend of Lila's brother, right Lila?"

"Yep! His friend, my friend too, he's also her friend!" Lila pointed at Victoria

The Octolings exchanged glances

As for Victoria she was surprised _'Kal?'_

Lila stopped, noticing that the Octolings started to look funny.

"Keep going." One of them told Lila

"Also a friend of Agent 3, not good friends with Bogs though."

A few of the Octolings started to panic

"You see! We are getting caught!"

"We are not getting caught, umm Lila, Agent 3 wasn't there was he?"

"Yes he was, with Kal and two other fresh squids!"

The lack of a name for the two fresh squids made it even worse for the Octolings, who assumed they were Agents 1&2.

"The whole New Squidbeak Splatoon is on to us! We are screwed!" one Octoling yelled

"Shut up! Shut up! Stop being such a jinx, hurry up and knock on wood." Another tried to calm down the first.

A third crouched in a fetal position

"I don't wanna be caught, I don't wanna be sent to an Inkling jail, I don't wanna be violated by Inkling criminals."

The toll of operating in foreign land, far away from home was already starting to show.

"Okay okay, everyone just calm down, we will find a way out of this and go back to the Valley."

"Yes, right okay, I'm calm" An Octoling said while taking deep breaths.

"Good, all we have to do is keep blending in with the Vanguard movement until the lockdown is over, it will be easy." an Octoling sat while patting a panicky one on the back.

They didn't know that Kal, Neon, Inker and Sky were still there.

After Lila had left, they listened hard, hoping to hear anything important.

And they did.

Kal knocked on the door again, behind him, Inker and Neon transformed into squid form.

Kal and Sky picked the two up, ready to toss them into the house as soon as the door opened again.

Kal would follow afterwards, while Sky waited for Arcus' IPD team.

Back inside the house, a few of the Octolings were gripped with fear when they heard the knocking again.

A more calm one went with Lila to take a look.

The Octoling hid behind the door, then nodded at Lila.

Lila opened the door to peek outside, but before she could say anything something blue and green were tossed inside.

Inker and Neon quickly popped back up and splatted the Octoling, while Lila looked on, confused.

Kal entered shortly and closed the door, leaving Sky outside.

"Lila, what's going on? Why are there Octolings in your home?" Inker asked

"Did you hear that? That sounded like Agent 3! He's here!" someone said

"Lila! It would be much appreciated if you get back down here!"

Lila immediately ran back to the basement

Inker, Kal and Neon followed, covering turf on their way down.

They saw Victoria tied up, with six other Octolings pointing weapons at them.

Lila stood by their side, holding an Aerospray.

Inker observed the Octolings, he noticed that three of them were shaking, probably out of fear.

He didn't want to splat anyone if he didn't need to.

"Inkopolis is on lockdown, and the IPD are on their way here, just hand over Victoria and nobody needs to get splatted." Inker said

The Octolings that looked nervous seemed ready to give up.

The other ones however, weren't.

"Lila, if you could point your weapon at Victoria it would be much appreciated, oh and if any of us gets splatted then pull the trigger too." The Elite Octoling said

Lila compiled immediately, her aerospray was pointed at Victoria.

If the Elite Octoling was to be believed, she would splat her if they tried to splat any of the Octolings.

Now it was the Elite Octoling's turn to make demands.

"We will return to Octo Valley, with the traitor and Lila, let us through."

The group groups continued their stand off.

"Lila, why are you helping them?" Kal asked

"Huh?" Lila sounded confused

"Lila, what happened to Laven and the rest of your family?"

"I can't remember."

"Hey Lila, it would be appreciated if you stop talking." The Octoling closest to her snapped

"Don't listen to her Lila, why are you threatening Victoria? What did she ever do to you?"

No response.

"Lila?"

"Looks like she doesn't want to talk to you anymore, now step aside before she decides to shoot your friend."

Lila still said nothing, but Kal noticed something.

Her jaw was moving, as if she wanted to talk, but could not.

'_What was going on here?'_

"Kal, we may need to let them go…" Inker whispered "Unless we splat Lila I don't see a way to save Victoria."

Inker didn't want to splat Lila

Neither did Kal

They weren't too sure about Neon though, but she had been holding herself back the whole time, so she probably wouldn't splat Lila either.

'_Come on! Think! What can we do here?'_ Kal thought hard

Lila was the only one who could splat Victoria, since the Octolings all shared the same ink colour.

But how could they get Lila away from Victoria if she was obeying the Elite Octoling's command?

The Octolings started to move, two of them untied Victoria from her chair.

"Move it."

They walked towards Kal, Inker and Neon.

Inker backed up slowly, along with Kal, Neon hesitated for a bit, but followed along.

"Lila, stay with us, it will be much appreciated." One of the Octolings said.

Lila, who hadn't been moving until then, immediately followed along.

Once again Kal noticed Lila seem to hesitate.

It was almost as if she didn't want to follow along.

Kal wondered why she was acting like that.

'_Maybe Laven was captured by the Octarians? Actually that wouldn't make sense, we heard about the spy before the Vanguard movement went to Octo Valley.'_

There was one other theory.

'_Arcus said that Lila had been getting messages telling her to do things which would be appreciated. The invitations I got from the Vanguard movement also said that joining would be much appreciated, finally Lynn mentioned bribes and brainwashing._

_Brainwashing!"_

"Lila, keep your weapon trained on Victoria, it will be much appreciated." the Elite Octoling said again.

"No Lila, it would be much appreciated if you stopped aiming at Victoria."

"What did you just say?!" the Elite Octoling exclaimed.

In the meantime Lila had stopped pointing her Aerospray at Victoria.

No, rather it looked like she was fighting herself, she hadn't completely lowered her weapon, but appeared to be trying to do so.

However the Elite Octoling immediately had her weapon aimed at Lila.

If they couldn't hurt Victoria, then they would have to use Lila as a hostage.

"Congratulations on figuring out how we were controlling this little one, it's a shame we didn't have more time to implant a more effective form of brainwashing, now let us pass." the Elite ordered

"Dammit, that didn't help at all!"Kal murmured

He along with Neon and Inker took another step back, all while keeping their weapons trained on the Octolings.

Neon was holding her E-Liter in an odd way, with her hand covering the barrel.

This was because she was completely fine with splatting an Elite Octoling and she was also perfectly confident in her aim.

Her hand was blocking the aiming laser her E-Liter would have made while charging.

'_She has no idea what's coming'_

Neon moved her hand and the laser appeared perfectly on the Elite, who reacted by pulling her trigger.

Of course it was too late, Neon's E-Liter splatted the Elite Octoling in one hit, while the Elite's Octoshot only did some damage to Lila, who yelped and fell to the floor.

The other Octolings went into a panic, some fired at Inker and the others while another fired at Lila.

Inker made sure to splat that one first, before switching to squid form and swimming away.

Good thing they covered some turf while coming here.

Kal fired a barrage of Ink from his Heavy Splatling, while Neon picked off another Octoling.

The remaining Octolings surrendered in no time.

They dropped their weapons.

"Okay okay we give up!"

Kal, Inker and Neon relaxed

But Lila stood back up

As if she was in a trance, she wadded towards Victoria with her Aerospray

She had an order to complete.

"No Lila stop, it would be appreciated if you stop!"

Lila halted just as she raised her Aerospray.

Once again it seemed like she was fighting herself.

"I c-can't, I want to but I can't" Lila struggled

"Lila, it would be much appreciated if you lowered your weapon."

Lila's arm shook violently

"I'm trying, I'm trying."

She tried to stop it, but could not.

Kal wasn't sure what would happen now,how else could he stop Lila, who seemed to be puppeted by the Octarians.

"Don't give up, what if it was Laven standing in front of you!"

Lila's eyes widened

"What?"

Yet she was already moving her hand.

"No! Nonononono stop!" Lila panicked

"No, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? Where did Laven go? I need help!"

Lila's struggle intensified, she shook violently, then went quiet.

It was probably too much to have a lot of conflicting orders.

Lila had passed out

The remaining Octolings had given up

And Victoria was safe.

It was over

Inker and Kal freed Victoria, who immediately asked "How did you manage to find me?"

Kal scratched his head shyly "It's a long story."

"No it isn't" Neon chimed in "This morning he wa-"

Kal jumped on Neon and covered her mouth, only letting bit of her story flow out

"Mmph panic mmmmp Arcus mmmmmph crazy" Neon said as she wrested to get Kal's hand off.

Inker and Victoria laughed

"Well regardless, thanks for rescuing me." Victoria said

"Hey no problem!" Kal said, finally letting go of Neon.

"You should have seen how insane he went when you were gone!" Neon laughed

Kal glared at Neon

"Anyways!" Inker interrupted "The IPD are coming soon, so we should leave now."

Kal nodded "Yeah right, we can't let them find out you yet" he said to Victoria

Victoria looked around for something to hide her Octarian tentacles.

The Octolings all had some kind of Inkling headgear that was large enough, she settled on a Bobble hat.

As they prepared to leave Kal glanced at Lila again.

She was unconscious.

"What should we do about Lila?" he asked

"She was brainwashed, I don't think there is much we can do." Victoria replied

"Can't you do something about it?"

"I'm not an Elite Octoling, there isn't much I can do."

Kal looked at the unconscious Lila, _'why did she pass out like that?'_

Back in Melanin prison, she was an innocent little girl, Kal had even promised to protect her, because someone that young should never be left to die in Octo Valley.

But by the time they got to Lila, she must have already been brainwashed.

Who would do such a thing to a young girl like her?

"It doesn't feel right leaving her behind like this."

"Kal, the IPD will be here soon, they'll take her to a hospital."

Kal paused again.

"Well okay."

Inker, Kal, Neon, Sky and Victoria left just as Arcus' IPD team arrived.

From a distance, Kal watched as an ambulance arrived, presumably to pick up Lila.

He would need to visit her soon.

After all, they needed to know what happened to the Vanguard movement.

"RRRRRRR"

Everyone's attention turned to Kal, or rather his stomach

"Ohh right, I skipped breakfast."

"Hey I know, let's all go to that sushi place that you took Victoria too!" Neon suggested

"Yeah sure…. WAIT A SEC! Were you eavesdropping on me?!"

"I just happened to pass by, what? Did you think I would interrupt your date?"

"It wasn't a date!"

'_Neon was as carefree as always' _Victoria thought _'But why does it feel like I just casually got friendzoned?'_

* * *

**Cephalic Hospital, Inkopolis**

That night Lila tossed and turned on her hospital bed.

There were bits of memories she didn't want to see, bits that she couldn't shake.

'_It would be much appreciated, if you could get the others to take revenge.'_

'_No'_

'_The Inkopolis government isn't doing anything, so will take action ourselves. We ask everyone who had seen the brutality of the Octarians to join together, we shall become vanguards of a great campaign and punish the Octarians for their actions. If you could spread this message to everyone you know, it would be much appreciated.'_

'_No'_

'_If you can bring your Vanguard friends to Octo Valley, it would be very much appreciated.'_

'_We would appreciate it if you can guide them to the rig.'_

'_No! No no no no! That never happened no!'_

'_We would appreciate it if you brought us back as guests.'_

What had she done?

Lila tossed, turned and cried

There was some really disturbing memories.

Creating the Vanguard movement

Going with them to Octo Valley

Blank

'_Nothing happened after that, I just came back with a few Octolings that's all.'_

Lila kept telling herself that.

Even though she knew what had really happened

She didn't want to bring her family to Octo valley, but for some reason she did the opposite.

As if she was a backseat driver and somebody else was moving her body.

What happened after that?

She led them into an ambush and watched as they were all splatted one by one.

Her father Wister blasted by an Octostriker.

Her mother Mauve splatted by Octotroopers.

Her dear brother Laven, brought to his knees and shot by Octolings.

Lila shook those images out of her head

'_No that didn't happen, they never went to Octo valley, they just haven't come home in a while!'_

'_Yes that's it, yes they are lost, I have to find them!'_

'_Find them!'_

'_Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them Find them.'_


	25. Shattered

**Parliament building, Inkopolis**

It had been two days since the incident with the Octolings.

Arcus' team found a lot in the Fields' household.

Right now Arcus planned to present all of that in the meeting.

He sat by as the other ministers argued about other things, until they finally got back to the topic of the citizens protesting for a new Inkopolis army.

He had a lot to say about that one.

"As you all know, I recently put Inkopolis on lockdown and arrested several Octolings who had managed to slip into our city. However there is more, some details that we cannot yet tell the public."

He had the reports from his IPD team ready.

"The Octarians had help from one of ours, Lila Fields, you may recognise her as one of the victims of the squidnapping incidents."

This caused everyone to start whispering amongst themselves.

They commented on the sheer absurdity of someone like Lila working for the Octarains.

Arcus paused for a moment before continuing.

"It turns out that she was handpicked and brainwashed by the Octarians because of her innocent and impressionable nature, after all, who would think that a young and cheerful little girl would turn out to be a spy? It gets worse, it turns out that Lila had been the one who pushed the families of the squidnapping victims to create the Vanguard movement."

The IPD had found out that Lila had been getting orders from Octo Valley to spread the word about her treatment in Melanin prison.

Since Inkopolis was such a peaceful place and everyone was so used to it, they couldn't tolerate the things Lila had experienced.

That drove them to protest for a new army, when that didn't work they formed the Vanguard movement.

"So you are saying that the Octarians had a hand in creating the Vanguard movement?" One minister asked

"No, they didn't just have a hand in its creation, I'm saying they were the ones behind it." Arcus continued "Think about it, we know that the Octarians are back and they want revenge, but they probably know that they don't stand a chance if they were to fight us directly. It's extremely likely that they had been trying to lure us into attacking them, they want to be able to take all the heat we can throw at them before making a move."

The room filled with various discussions again.

"In conclusion, we should stay away from Octo Valley, the only question now is whether or not we can reveal this to the public." Prime Minister Steenson concluded

The news had already shown the IPD arresting the remaining Octolings that Inker and the other didn't splat, however they didn't know much more.

How did they get here in the first place? What were they here for?

If Lila wasn't involved, they could probably release it without question.

"If we do reveal everything, how would the public react? What about the Vanguard movement? They are still trying to attack Octo Valley again despite losing so many members in the first wave."

"I doubt they would believe that the Octarians were the real creators of their organization, they can accept the loss of their members but claiming that they were backed by the Octarians would probably make them accuse us of slander."

"It's possible that they know already, after all, the only survivors of their first wave turned out to be Octolings wearing the clothes of the fallen Inklings and their spy Lila."

"Then we need someone they can trust to tell them the bad news. What about that girl Lila? She was forced into helping the Octarians against her will right? She could convince the rest of the Vanguard movement to disband."

"I dont think so." Arcus said, pulling out another report. "It seems that Lila is broken, she refuses to accept her family's death and wanders around looking for them, the nurses also say that whenever its meal time, she asks for four portions and sits around waiting for her family to show up."

The ministers shut their eyes and lowered their heads for a brief moment.

What a sad fate for such a young girl.

"Then, what's happening to her now?"

"She's been released for the moment, though the IPD is still monitoring her in case the Octarians try to use her again, but so far they haven't."

"Wait, she was released? Couldn't the doctors fix her or something?"

"No they couldn't, we don't know the extent of Octarian brainwashing and she's already suffering from severe emotional trauma, the doctors are afraid that putting her in an asylum or sending her to an orphanage would destroy her mind. They aren't sure how to make her accept that her family is gone and until that happens, she'll be denying everything and living in her own imagination."

The ministers sat in silence for a while, before moving on to other topics.

* * *

**Fields family household, Inkopolis**

"I'm home!"

Lila cheerfully burst into the house.

A dark and empty house

No one was there

"Hmm? Where did they all go?" Lila wondered

She flipped on the lights and flopped on the couch

"Oh well they will be back soon."

As she sat around she noticed a paper sitting on the table.

It read "Vanguard movement, second wave, list of members."

'_Vanguard movement'_

Something about that felt weird

Did she hear about that before?

_ **Laven changed to his squid form and hid in a puddle of purple ink with his family** _

_ **"Where's dad?" he asked** _

_ **"They got him already."** _

"!"

Lila quickly tore up the paper.

"Jeez I haven't seen them around for a while, where could they be?"

She took out her squid-phone and dialed Laven's number.

After a series of beeps came an automated message

"Hey its me, it's your best buddy, its Laven! Do your thing when you hear the beep."

*Beep*

Lila hung up

'_he's probably busy playing turf wars'_ Lila concluded

Time passed as Lila waited for her family's return.

She checked the clock

4:30 PM

Lila hopped to the kitchen

'_I'll make something nice for when everyone comes home!'_

Lila only knew some simple recipes, so she made a big pot of pasta and tomato soup.

She set the table, four bowls, four napkins and four spoons and proceeded to wait.

Lila sat waiting for a long time, happily swinging her legs, waiting for her family's safe return.

She waited until midnight, before falling asleep at the table….

Lila didn't wake up until noon the next day, by then the sun was high and the soup she made had evaporated.

Lila ran upstairs, hoping to see her family.

No one was there, all the rooms were empty.

"Jeez, what's with them, leaving without saying goodbye."

Lila wandered her house alone for a while, entertaining herself with music and video games, before realizing that maybe she could find clues as to where Laven went for the day.

Lila went to Laven's room and booted up his computer.

After a few tires she was able to crack his password, since she knew her brother well.

'_Let's see…'_

Laven hadn't posted anything online recently.

His last post was some kind of symbol or logo.

A silver and gold shield shape with a V carved into it.

Laven's comment was "How do you like it? It's going to be the official symbol of the Vanguard movement."

What was that Vanguard thing anyways?

_ **In a panic Laven took Lila and ran, he blasted the Octotrooper but the noise attracted a few Octoballs which gave chase, rolling quickly towards them.** _

Lila immediately shut off the monitor.

Maybe she should head to the plaza, perhaps she could find Laven at Inkopolis tower.

Lila happily slipped on her shoes and left the house.

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

There were so many creatures here.

Usually Lila wouldn't come here alone, she would follow Laven or risk getting lost.

After all he was always so caring and protective towards her.

Lila toured the plaza, glancing around quickly.

There were so many strangers.

Inklings chatting or playing on arcade machines

Jellyfish carrying toolboxes

Lila wandered over to Inkopolis tower.

She had only been here once before, and that one time caused her to be squidnapped and taken to Melanin prison, where she met Kal and Bogs.

Lila stopped thinking about what came after that.

"Excuse me, is Laven Fields currently in a match?" Lila asked a receptionist in the lobby

The receptionist browsed through the current games before replying "Nope, it doesn't look like there is anyone named Laven playing at the moment."

"Oh okay, thanks."

Lila left the tower

Where else could Laven have gone?

'_There were a few cafés he went to with the other Vangu-_

_No that was a dream, there is no such thing as the Vanguard movement'_

She walked around some more.

The stores wouldn't welcome her, since she was not fresh enough yet, so she only asked the shopkeepers if they had seen her brother.

They all kindly replied the same way "no" expect for a certain clownfish.

Lila left the stores.

"Sigh, where could they be?"

She looked up at one of the TVs in the plaza

The magenta and light green squids looked familiar, but who were they interviewing?

"So even though only one of you returned from Octo Valley, you are still planning to attack again?"

"Yes of course, we saw just a few days ago that there were Octolings in our city, it's only fair that we counterattack."

'_Octolings in Inkopolis? What a joke, that is not possible.'_

"You know, there are rumors that the Octarians had been using your organization all along as a way to sneak troops into our city."

"Those are just rumors, the first wave of the Vanguard movement went wrong because the was already a spy in Inkopolis."

'_No that didn't happen.'_

"They were led into a trap."

'_No, shut up shut up shut up!'_

"But now that the Octarians who snuck in have all been caught, there won't be any problem for us."

'_Yes, yes they were all caught and punished, Mom, Dad and Laven never went to Octo Valley.'_

"It's a shame what happened to the Fields and Mire families though."

'_What shame? It's not like anything bad happened.'_

"The rest of the Vanguard movement will remember them forever."

Lila clasped her hands over her ears, trying to drown out the news report.

_ **"Lila, you need to run, just run anywhere, try to get back to Inkopolis."** _

_ **Lila nodded** _

_ **"But what about you?"** _

_ **"Just go!" Laven gave Lila a push and ran back towards the Octoballs, firing his Blaster wildly.** _

What was that scene in her head? It almost seemed real.

'_Heh, I have a crazy imagination.'_

Lila thought, still covering her ears and running away from Inkopolis Plaza

_ **He kept moving away from the Octarians, firing whenever he had the chance, but he was losing ground, even with a Blaster he was missing, his aim became shakier by the moment.** _

_ **It wasn't long before he was backed into a corner.** _

_ **Fear and fatigue finally overcame him as he collapsed to his knees, dropping his Blaster, Laven looked up to see tons of Octarians bearing down on him.** _

_ **It was the last thing Lila saw of him, she heard him mutter "why didn't I listen."** _

It was like a nightmare, why was Lila having nightmares during the day?

No they were memories, memories that she didn't want to accept.

She felt a bad premonition in her heart, she begun to search Inkopolis even more frantically than before.

'_Something happened to Laven! I haven't seen him for too long! I need to find him!'_

Lila ran around, pushing her way through the crowds.

"Hey! Watch it!" someone complained, but Lila didn't hear them

She was too busy looking for her lost brother.

"Laven! Laven! Where are you!"

* * *

**Kal's house, Inkopolis**

Even though it was daytime all the curtains were closed.

Victoria stood in the living room, without her helmet, she held a Splattershot, which she aimed around the place, while making motions Kal could not understand.

She hopped around aiming the Splattershot at various things, transforming in and out of Octopus form and pretending to throw splat bombs.

"Well? How is it?" Kal asked

"It's no Octoshot, but it feels similar at least."

Victoria was preparing for Lynn's return.

When that happened, she would then join the disavowed captain and the splatoon that rebelled against Octavia.

As for the Splattershot, it belonged to Kal, she was taking it along incase the captain didn't have any spare weapons for her to use.

"So you've decided?" Kal watched as Victoria packed up the Splattershot into her bag, which also contained those disgusting "rations".

"Yep" Victoria replied, leaving her bag by the door "When Lynn returns, i'll be off to Octo Valley."

For some reason Kal didn't want to see her go.

He assumed it was because of how dangerous Octo Valley was.

"Hey, since this could be your last day in Inkopolis, can we go out to eat?"

Victoria smiled

"Sure."

Kal thought about where they could go.

They had just been there a few days ago, but that sushi place seemed appropriate.

After all it was the first place he took her.

Kal and Victoria left Kal's house, with Kal hoping that Neon didn't spot them again, otherwise she would definitely get the wrong idea.

* * *

**Inkopolis plaza**

Kal and Victoria headed for a place called Sushi Den, it was one of Kal's preferred restaurants.

Kal didn't have much to say, but there was a lot on his mind.

He looked at Victoria, who always seemed to enjoy the clean and happy atmosphere of Inkopolis.

Right now she was taking in the wonderful sights of the city of colour.

'_Why did she want to go back to Octo Valley so much?' Kal wondered_

Victoria previously said that it was probably due to an emotional attachment, but Kal didn't understand.

From what he saw, Victoria acted with reason, the only time she didn't was after being pushed to the edge.

It didn't make sense to want to return to Octo valley, if there was nothing there for her.

The two heard sounds of grunting and shoving, Inklings saying things along the lines of "hey!" and "What's wrong with you?"

And speeding out of a crowd was teary eyed Lila, who ran past the two.

"Laven! Laven!" she yelled as she speed off into the distance.

Kal and Victoria watched Lila run off

Something was wrong.

"What happened to her? Is that some kind of side effect from, you know"

Kal didn't want to mention brainwashing out loud in public.

"I don't know anything about it."

The two continued to the Sushi Den

Once they were seated and had ordered food, they had time to talk.

Not like they didn't have plenty of time to talk before coming here.

But the subject of Lila and the Vanguard movement was on Kal's mind now

"Did you hear about the Vanguard movement? They haven't learned a thing from their first failure."

Victoria nodded

"Yeah, actually, it reminds me of Acting Leader Octavia."

"Hey that reminds me, how come nobody has tried to rescue Octavio yet?"

"Who knows, maybe they think Octavia is doing a good enough job on her own."

Victoria paused as a waiter came by, bringing salads and miso soup.

"Thanks."

"Do you think you might run into the Vanguard if you go back down to the Valley?"

"Who knows, I just want to be able to come home."

"Good luck with that, you will need it."

"You don't have to tell me twice, honestly taking down Octavia with a single splatoon of guerillas seems impossible, I wonder what the captain has planned."

"Do you trust her?"

"Definitely, someone with a reputation like hers would have my trust. They say she could possibly be the best combatant among the Elites and she isn't bad when it comes to tactics either."

"Yeah I can believe that, you didn't see how she took on Bogs in Melanin." Kal remembered the time when Bogs tried to fight the captain.

Bogs, a big and well built guy had charged at the captain with all his might, it should have been an intimidating sight, yet the captain was unfazed, she simply dropped on her back and lodged her foot in Bogs' chest, sending him flying.

"Well then, I'll be in her care soon, I probably won't be able to contact you or anyone else after that."

"Why not?"

"Guerilla tactics means that we will be constantly on the move, we also won't risk exposing our camp by sending out messages."

"Oh"

Kal didn't know anything about military tactics.

"Well then, I hope that someday you return safely."

'_Wait what? Why did I just say that? I mean Victoria prefers Octo Valley right? Why would I want her to come back?"_

However it seemed that Victoria liked his concern.

"Thanks."

Another waiter arrived carrying the food they ordered.

There was all sorts of things, ranging from beef teriyaki rolls to shrimp tempura.

For Victoria's sake, Kal avoided ordering takoyaki.

The two began eating and talking about other topics. Things like the other types of weapons, since Victoria was unfamiliar with anything other than shooters.

The chance that maybe the captain would want Inker's help.

In a while the topic had looped back to the Vanguard movement.

Kal wanted to stop the Vanguard movement from attacking Octo Valley a second time.

Of course he and Victoria both knew that they wouldn't listen to either of them.

"What about Lila? Maybe she could help." Victoria suggested

"Yeah she could, maybe we should pay her a visit."

Once they had finished their meal of course.

* * *

**Fields family household, Inkopolis**

Kal and Victoria arrived.

This was where Lila, Laven and their parents lived.

Of course the house seemed very empty now.

It had been taped off in the past few days by the IPD, while Lila was denied visitors at the hospital, so Kal couldn't speak to her earlier about the Vanguard movement.

Kal knocked on the door, it took awhile but eventually someone answered.

As the door slowly opened, Kal and Victoria could hear a bit of sobbing.

Lila was there, her hair was a mess, her face bruised and drenched with tears, she looked up at her visitors, then froze.

Her eyes started tearing up again, but the sadness vanished from her face.

She had been crying because she was worried about Laven, but now she was crying for a different reason.

She cried with happiness when she looked at Kal.

No she didn't look at him.

Her eyes were pointed at his direction, but she didn't see Kal.

"Laven!"

Lila plastered herself onto Kal, hugging him tightly and crying into his chest.

"I was so worried! Where did you go?"

"Wha?" Kal didn't understand what was happening.

"Can you believe it? Some strange guy on the news said you were dead, that you, mom and dad all got splatted in Octo valley, It's ridiculous! Why would you go to Octo Valley?"

"Oh." Kal could somewhat understand

Lila must have seen and remembered everything she did while under control of the Octarians.

She probably couldn't accept that Laven and her parents had passed away.

"Lila, i'm sorry, but Laven is gone."

Kal felt Lila's arms tighten their embrace.

"What are you talking about!? You are right here, dear brother!" Lila said, as she looked up to Kal.

There was so much joy in Lila's face, joy and relief.

The opposite of what she was feeling just moments ago.

But despite it all, it was all a fantasy of hers.

Kal wasn't Laven.

Kal looked at Victoria, who was equally confused.

Neither of them knew what to do.

"Lila, look at me, I'm not your brother."

"Hmm? Haha, you are funny Laven."

She was even calling him Laven with every chance she got.

Kal brushed off Lila, then kneeled in front of her.

"Look at me Lila, I'm not Laven!"

He held his tentacles in front of him to show Lila that he wasn't even remotely the same colour.

Actually any normal person could see that there was nothing similar between the two.

Laven had purple tentacles and green eyes, the same as Lila, he also had a slightly paler skin tone.

Kal had red tentacles and brown eyes, he was nothing like Laven and was far from being able to pass as Lila's brother.

"What? You are not Laven?"

"No, Laven went to Octo Valley with you, remember? I don't know what happened after that, but he didn't come back."

"Ahh ahhh!" Lila started to panic again.

"That's not true! Where is Laven!?" She glanced around furiously

"Laven! Laven!"

Lila turned to run to her room, but tripped over herself, falling face first on the floor.

She was being assaulted by reality.

The sounds and images of the truth attacked her mind.

Images, no memories, they were memories.

Memories that shouldn't have happened.

Lila cried.

"Why did they leave me? Why! Why! Why!" She started slamming her head into the ground with all the force she could muster.

No wonder her face was so bruised

Kal winced at the sight and sound of Lila's head hitting the ceramic tiled floor

However Victoria jumped in, putting her hand between Lila's head and the floor, it hurt Victoria a bit, but it cushioned Lila, Victoria didn't mind the pain and patted Lila with her other hand.

"Lila, what are you talking about? They didn't leave you, your brother is right there." Victoria pointed at Kal.

"Wha?" Kal exclaimed, pointing at himself

"Just go with it!" Victoria whispered

Lila looked back up again, first at Victoria, who she couldn't recognise with a helmet on, then she looked at Kal.

"Laven?"

Kal didn't want to say it, it felt so wrong, but if he didn't what would happen to Lila?

It wasn't right pretending to be someone else, but maybe if it's for Lila's sake...

"Yes, its me Laven, I'm back."

* * *

A few hours later…

Kal tucked Lila into bed, she was really tired from running around all day and crying.

There were bandages on her head, thanks to Kal and Victoria treating her.

She had been losing her mind earlier, but now she had done a complete 180, she smiled at Kal and he smiled back.

Lila fell asleep very quickly, snoozing peacefully into the night.

Kal watched Lila fall asleep, then left her room and went back downstairs, were Victoria was waiting.

"So, how is it like having a little sister that isn't even related to you?" she joked

"Ugh, I don't know, why did you tell her I'm Laven anyways?"

"Would you rather see her ram her head into the floor?"

"No, but still why do I have to be pretending to be Laven? I barely even knew the guy."

"That girl is suffering quite a bit already, sure you aren't her brother but at least go along with that sad fantasy of hers for now. Until she can accept that her real brother is gone."

"How long will that be?"

"I don't know."

Kal collapsed onto the couch

"Sigh, what a mess, why couldn't the doctors fix her?"

"Did you really think that undoing our brainwashing would be that easy?"

"Who's side are you on?"

Victoria shrugged

"Kinda hard to tell at this point."

Kal sat lazily for a while, reflecting on what had just happened.

"Well I guess I could pretend to be Laven for a while…"

"That's the spirit"

"But I don't want to be Laven forever, I have my own life, I can't keep pretending to be someone i'm not."

"Don't worry, I'm sure it won't last long."

"Do you think that maybe your roommate could help out? I recall hearing that she had a medical background."

Kal was referring to Violet, Victoria's roommate who was apparently a paramedic of some sort in Octo Valley.

Victoria didn't like thinking about her.

"Hmph, I haven't stayed in contact with Violet, it's not like she'd feel comfortable helping out anyways."

"Why? Because i'm an Inkling or because you threatened to kill her the last time you saw her?"

"Hey, when somebody gets your family killed, wanting to take revenge on them is natural."

"If that's the case, then why isn't Lila feeling the same way?"

It was an important question, one that Victoria couldn't really answer.

"I'm a soldier not a psychologist."

She did recall something though, one of the Octolings who had captured her said that the Octarian captain had something to do with Lila's brainwashing.

"Perhaps the former captain of the Melanin prison guards could help us out."

"Did she have something to do with Lila's condition?"

"Probably, considering she's an Elite Octoling, well a former one at that."

Kal sighed

'_Great, so I'm stuck playing house until Victoria leaves for Octo Valley.'_

Kal handed Victoria the keys to his house.

"Here, you should probably head back now, I'll have to stay here tonight so that Lila doesn't go into a panic tomorrow morning."

"Oh, alright then, see you tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning Lila hopped out of bed and ran to Laven's room.

Nobody there.

"Laven! Laven?"

She checked her parents' room

"Mom? dad?"

She went downstairs.

Kal had slept on the couch, because he felt like it was weird to sleep in somebody else's bed.

As if it wasn't strange enough sleep in someone else's home without permission.

"Laven!"

Kal awoke to Lila calling her brother's name.

The first thing he saw was Lila on the side of the couch, staring deeply into his eyes.

"Why did you sleep on the couch Laven?"

"I uhh, was too tried to head back up."

Lila suddenly brought a hand to her face and winced.

"You're such a lazy brother."

'_What a strange reaction'_

Kal sat up, still wearing the same clothes from yesterday.

"By the way, where did mom and dad go?" Lila asked

"They uhh, went on a trip."

"Will they be back soon?"

"Yeah probably."

Kal went to the kitchen, first off he had to make something for Lila, after that he had to go to the hospital again to ask about what the heck happened.

Lila winced again, upon seeing Kal frying eggs.

"You can cook now?"

"Yeah, uhh, with mom and dad gone for the moment I thought I should learn a bit."

"You could just have left it to me again."

"Oh" Kal didn't think that Lila could cook "well then, let's make breakfast together."

'_That was something Laven would say right?'_

Kal really had no clue what Laven was like, all he knew was that he used a Blaster and cared for Lila.

Kal and Lila sat and had a breakfast of eggs on toast and milk.

After that Kal went up Laven's room, looking for a Blaster so that he could seem more like Laven.

He couldn't find one.

'_Laven probably took his Blaster with him to Octo Valley.'_

The doorbell rang, Kal could hear Lila's footsteps as she ran to the door.

"I got it!"

'_It's probably Victoria, or maybe Inker if she told him what happened'_

"Hello Lila, is your brother home?"

Kal recognised the voice, it wasn't either of his friends, but the defense minister of Inkopolis: Arcus Hilgendorf.

Lila called out to Kal "Laven! Someone's here to see you!"

Kal glanced out the second floor.

There was a limo parked outside along with two tough looking Inklings, probably Arcus' bodyguards.

'_I guess he's being cautious after what happened a few days ago….'_

Kal went downstairs and met Arcus at the door.

"We need to talk."

"Hmm? Okay, come on in."

Arcus entered the Fields' house, accompanied by one bodyguard, the other stood outside.

Kal felt a bit uncomfortable with one of Arcus's bodyguards in the room.

It was a tall Inkling in suit, wearing sunglasses even though he was indoors. He stood quietly to the side, standing perfectly straight with his hands in front, his gaze moving from Arcus to the windows.

Kal sat with Arcus in the living room.

"Lila, you can leave us, we need to talk among ourselves." Arcus said

Lila nodded and left the room, though Kal could see her peeking from the stairs.

Arcus noticed it too, so he spoke in a quieter voice.

"So Kal, you've been playing house recently.."

"You know huh, have you been watching me since that false accusation?"

"Heh I'm not that petty, no not you, Lila. The IPD have been monitoring her since her release from the hospital, just in case the Octarians start using her again. Though i'm surprised to see you involved again."

"It's not like I want to get involved, but recently it seems like I keep getting dragged into more and more trouble."

"Well then I'm going to trouble you some more, you should keep pretending to be Laven Fields."

Kal let out a sigh.

He was really started to get annoyed by the constant string of problems happening of late.

"You didn't have to come and tell me that. What the heck happened to Lila? Couldn't anybody else help her? Maybe an actual doctor or psychologist?"

"They tried, but the doctors are worried they might do something wrong since they don't have the slightest knowledge of Octarian mind conditioning."

"And neither do I."

"Maybe not, but yesterday Lila was going crazy, we were actually about to bring her in and lock her away when you showed up. It seems that for some reason she sees Laven in you. Maybe you did something he would do? I don't know, but whatever the reason, seeing you as Laven seems to have brought her back from the edge of insanity."

Kal thought about why Lila would see him as Laven, even though he was nothing like him.

All he could think of was Melanin prison.

"So hold on, you're telling me that because I comforted her while we were squidnapped by the Octarians, she thinks i'm her-" Kal glanced towards the stairs to make sure Lila wasn't still listening. "brother?"

"According to the doctors I spoke with, that's likely the case. It's a good thing too."

"How is it good? I have my own life, but now I'm living someone else's."

"It's good for Lila, at least now she can stop hurting herself and slowly move on. Beside the only other option would be to stuff her in a straitjacket and lock her away in an asylum somewhere. I'm sure you know that Inkopolis doesn't get alot of insane patients so we only have one asylum which is already understaffed."

In other words, Arcus was saying that Lila's future depended on Kal's behavior now.

"So that's it? You came here to tell me that the only way to stop Lila from going insane is if I pretend to be Laven?"

"Unfortunately yes. Also, please observe Lila's condition, if you discover anything important, then go consult with a at Cephalic hospital."

Arcus handed Kal a card, which included the contact information for a doctor who Kal never heard of.

"What am I even supposed to be looking for?"

"Anything that seems out of the ordinary."

"I barely knew both Lila and Laven before, how am I supposed to know what's normal for them?"

"Well you are going to have to guess then. I know it's difficult having such a burden pushed onto you, but unfortunately it's the best we can do for now."

Kal nodded and glanced at the card

'_ Asio huh."_

"One last thing, would you be okay with the IPD monitoring you and Lila?"

"No. What ever happened to privacy?"

"Just being cautious, incase the Octarians try to use Lila again."

"If that happens i'll let you know."

"Okay, well then, i'll be off now."

"Bye."

Arcus left, along with his bodyguards, leaving Kal to sit alone in silence.

He hadn't even had time to prepare for a task like this.

Not like he had anything planned.

Maybe he just wanted to see Victoria off...

"Lila, i'm going out!"

With that Kal left the home that wasn't even his to begin with. He didn't bother waiting for Lila's reply, he wanted to see everyone and prepare himself mentally for becoming Laven.

* * *

**Kal's house, Inkopolis**

Kal rang the doorbell on his own home.

'_Ring!'_

"…"

No reply.

Kal tried knocking this time

'_Knock knock'_

"..."

Nothing

'_Did Victoria leave already?!'_

Kal was worried.

'_I gave Victoria the keys to my house, now I can't get inside. Yeah that's why i'm worried.' _Kal told himself.

Victoria might have left, or maybe she was just out with the others.

Kal hoped that Victoria was still there.

He knocked one more time, then rang the doorbell, then shouted:

"Victoria! Are you there!"

'_Click'_ Came the metallic sound of the door unlocking.

"Victoria! So you were still here, why didn't you come earlier?"

"I'm an Octoling remember, plus this is your house, what if someone came to visit you and found me here instead?"

'_So she was just being cautious.'_ Kal felt relieved.

"Anyways what's going on?" Victoria asked

"I just came back to get a few things….. Actually I want to head to the Plaza one more time to see everyone."

Victoria tilted her head in confusion.

"I'm the one who is about to leave Inkopolis, yet here you are sounding like you are saying goodbye."

Kal groaned "Well it turns out that since Lila sees me as her brother. I need to play along, otherwise she goes crazy and gets locked away."

"Really? That's an interesting problem."

"You bet. Anyways i'm heading to the plaza to tell everyone else and probably play some turf. Do you want to come along?"

'_Turf wars huh'_ Victoria wasn't too fond of watching dreadful battles treated as games.

Still she felt like Kal would need the support, so she'd bear with turf wars for now.

Besides, maybe she could learn something useful for when it's time for real wars.

"Yeah sure."

Kal took his Slosher and left with Victoria, to the plaza.

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

Kal and Victoria wandered around aimlessly.

Kal was trying to find Inker and the others, but to no avail.

He texted the group, but only Inker replied.

Oh well, Kal just wanted someone to know why he's going to start wearing purple while using a Blaster.

Inker spotted the duo and made his way over.

"Sup Kal, I got your message, what's so important that you need to see everyone about?"

"Well I wanted to tell Sky and Neon too, but I guess just the two of you is fine. You see yesterday I went to vis-" Kal stopped when he noticed a peculiar scene, behind Inker.

Specifically, a familiar cyan Inkling and a bright green Inkling arguing.

"See, there is nothing going on between them."

"No wait, don't go yet, watch once Inker is gone they'll do something."

"No they won't, I don't even know why I agreed to eavesdropping with you."

"It's not eavesdropping, it's just looking out for your friends. If something is going on we should support them to the best of our ability."

"Have you been watching romance movies or something?"

It was Sky and Neon, though Neon was barely noticable to Kal, Inker and Victoria because she was behind a bush.

Sky was trying to drag her out into the open, while they argued about something.

Inker, Kal and Victoria walked towards Sky and Neon.

Neon, who was earlier resisting Sky's attempt to drag her out, immediately stood up when she saw the others approach.

"Hiya guys!"

"What were you two doing?" Kal asked

"Oh nothing, I just happened to be passing by."

"Neon kept claiming that she had seen Kal and Victoria go on dates before."

Neon cringed as Sky started revealing everything

"I didn't believe any of it, so she said she'd could prove it and made me follow you two for a while."

Everyone stared at Neon.

"Hey it's totally normal to have some concern for two friends taking it to the next level."

"Is it also "totally normal" to eavesdrop on your friends…." Victoria replied

"I know you like to tease and joke around, but isn't this a bit too much?" Kal added

"Hmm? So the two of you aren't lovey dovey with each other?" Neon said with the most clueless looking face possible.

"N-no" Kal and Victoria both stammered

Neon looked at the two with a scrutinizing gaze, then went back to her usual smile.

"Hmm…. Yeah no, I don't believe a word of it!"

'_We only said one word…' x2_

"Oh well moving on then, what the big news Kal?" Neon quickly changed the subject.

She was probably trying to forget about it.

"Well I've ended up in a sort of, interesting problem to say the least."

"Oooo! do tell."

"It doesn't have anything to do with fighting, Okay Neon? So stop gazing at me with those expectant eyes."

"Aww"

"Anyways, remember Lila? Well I went to see her the other day, and all of a sudden she started calling me Laven."

"Wait why are you visiting her in the first place? You already have Victoria."

"What are you suggesting? I wanted to ask her about the Vanguard movement, after all they are still planning to attack Octo Valley despite the first disaster they had! Anyways it turns out that Lila's been hurting herself over what happened so I played along for the rest of the day."

"Oh! I get it now, Kal likes girls with issues." Neon was acting as if she made a big discovery.

"For cod sake."

"Neon I think you should shut up a little, this seems serious." Sky snapped

"You're so mean…"

Kal continued his explanation "So anyways this morning I got a visit from Arcus. Turns out he and the IPD have been monitoring Lila in case the Octarians can still control her. He told me that if Lila would go insane if I didn't pretend to be Laven. So now i'm suddenly supposed to become this other Inkling I barely even knew!" Kal got a bit agitated at the end there.

"Hold on, i'll be serious now, first off why is Lila losing her marbles? And why does she see you as Laven?"

"Lila can't accept what she did while under the influence of the Octarians, as for why she sees me as Laven, I really don't know. I mean I'm not like Laven at all!"

Neon nodded "Yeah yeah! You suck at turf and can't aim to save your life, but at least you aren't a moody crybaby like Laven."

'_Now I want to hit her with a fist.' _Kal suppressed his anger and asked about Laven instead.

"Hold on, so you knew Laven? What was he like?"

"Yeah I met him a few times, first was while you were squidnapped, all he did was cry and cry over Lila. Then I met him again while I was avoiding you all, he was grumbling about the Octarians and would mention the Vanguard movement to every team he played with."

"Ignoring what Neon said, I think Laven just really cared for Lila." Inker added

"Also, he was the one who convinced me to go to Octo Valley with Neon back then, I thought he was a pretty fresh guy until recently." Sky said.

"Hmm" Kal was starting to understand want Laven was like. "Well anyways after today I'm going to have to stay with Lila and pretend to be her brother I guess."

"I don't understand, why do you specifically need to be Laven?" Neon asked

"I don't know either, I must have done something similar to Laven I guess. I don't know, I just want to clear my head a little, you guys up for a quad squad?"

Neon threw her fist in the air

"Yeah! Now that's something I can relate too, come on!"

Neon grabbed Kal and dragged him towards Inkopolis tower, follow by everyone else.

* * *

**Field's family household, Inkopolis**

Kal spent the next few hours with his friends, they played turf wars, had lunch together, played some arcade games, etc.

In the afternoon, he decided it was time to head back to Lila's home.

Sure he felt a bit selfish for running out on such short notice, but who could blame him after everything that had happened so suddenly.

He also told Victoria to stop by and see him again when she was leaving for Octo Valley.

Obviously because he needed the keys to his house.

Kal stood outside Lila's home.

"..."

He rang the doorbell and prepared himself.

He would have to become somebody else now.

Lila unlocked the door, she peeked outside at Kal with tears in her eyes.

"Laven?"

Kal entered house

"Yes it's me, I'm back Lila."

"Wahhh! Why did you leave so suddenly! I was so worried!"

Once again Lila embraced Kal, at least that is what was really happening. But to Lila's eye, she was embracing her brother.

"Sorry if I worried you."

"I haven't seen mom and dad in so long, I thought that you had also left me!"

"Don't worry Lila, i'm not going anywhere."

Lila looked up at Kal

"Promise?"

"I Promise."

* * *

**OCs from part 5: Trouble at home (Chapters 21-25)**

**Inklings:**

**Inker Cetamari**: Blue Inkling boy, the New Squidbeak Splatoon's star agent. Despite finding himself in more and more situations where he is forced to fight the Octarians, Inker still holds the idea that maybe the two races could live peacefully. He is a skilled fighter, likely due to his experience as Agent 3 and a compassionate individual who would prefer putting only himself in harm's way to help others. (also known as Agent 3)

Likes: Turf Wars, helping others, hanging out with his friends.

Dislikes: Pointless conflict,

**Kalus Kogia**: Red Inkling boy, Inker's best friend/ childhood friend. Kalus was originally the average Inkling, having lived an easy life in Inkopolis, he used to think of the Octarians as nothing but the bad guys, until the events of Behind Enemy Lines and was somewhat arrogant at first. Kal learned that there were places far different from Inkopolis upon learning of Octo Valley, since then he grew to be more compassionate and tries to share the joy of living in Inkopolis, he similar to Inker in a way. However Kalus lacks Inker's combat skill and idealism.(also known as Kal)

Likes: Inkopolis, Squid Sisters, normal life. V̶i̶c̶t̶o̶r̶i̶a̶ ("Get out of here Neon!")

("phehehe.")

Dislikes: Trouble, problems.

**Neon**: Bright green Inkling girl, a friend of Inker, Kal and Sky. Neon is a carefree type who prefers to act on instinct rather then think. She is loud, hyperactive and outspoken, to the point where everyone around her describes her as being a little weird. She does and says whatever she wants whenever she feels like it. Despite her usual behavior, Neon secretly regrets every mistake she makes, sometimes wishing she was different. Neon loves fighting more than anything because she claims its the only thing that makes sense to her. She is a crackshot with Charger type weapons and has the skill to take on the Octarian army even better than Inker could.

Likes: Fighting, chargers, teasing her friends, joking around.

Dislikes: Mind games, lockdowns, mistakes.

**Sky**: Cyan Inkling boy, the youngest of his friend group. Sky is somewhat ambitionless and self aware, knowing exactly where he stands in life. Sky is the opposite of Neon as he always thinks and plans first before acting. However since Sky tends to act only on certainties, he tends to be bad at fast paced combat where quick decisions matter most, so he prefers to stay on the sidelines and have a low sense of presence. He sometimes wishes he had Inker or Neon's combat skill so that he could do more to help his friends when trouble arises.

Likes: Being safe and alive

Dislikes: Danger, risks, Neon (You're so mean, Sky")

("Get out of my bio, Neon!")

**Laven Fields** (deceased): Purple inkling boy. Laven was born and raised in Inkopolis, thus he is accustomed to the fun and fair environment there, he has little knowledge of anything outside of Inkopolis, this includes Octo valley. Laven was happy living in Inkopolis, easily making friends and happily living his youth, he also cares deeply for his little sister Lila, often comforting her and cheering her up when she was still a squid.

Unfortunately he was not prepared to deal with the unjust world outside of Inkopolis. When the Octarians started squidnapping Inklings at random, Lila was one of the first to be taken, Laven immediately fell into depression, blaming himself for losing Lila. When Lila returned he was incredibly happy to see her again, however he was also angered by what the Octarians had done to her, he along with the families of the other squidnapped Inklings started a crusade to take revenge on the Octarians, not knowing that real combat is nothing like the fair and fun turf wars of Inkopolis. He died along with his parents when the first wave of the Vanguard movement was ambushed by the Octarian army.

Likes: Blasters, Inkopolis, Turf wars, Lila

Dislikes: Octarians, bystanders, torture.

**Lila Fields**: Purple Inkling girl. Lila is an impressionable 11 year old girl, she grew out of her squid form much earlier than the average Inkling and was considered gifted. Lila was kept close to her family at all times, due to being bullied as a child, her brother Laven used to comfort her when she was feeling down so she feels emotionally attached to him and vice versa. Lila is one of the few Inklings who know of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, having met Kalus in Melanin Prison when they were squidnapped by the Octarians, who told her about Agent 3 and the battles he had with the Octarian army.

Likes: Friendly creatures, family, Laven

Dislikes: bullies, the boiling pit.

**Arcus Hilgendorf**: Black adult Inkling. The defense minister of Inkopolis. Arcus is a member of Inkopolis' political cabinet. As the defense minister, Arcus is in charge of Inkopolis police force, as Inkopolis lacks a military. Arcus' parents were part of the original Squidbeak Splatoon, he knew Cap'n Cuttlefish as a child, whom he calls "Uncle Craig" and idolized the tales of the Squidbeak Splatoon. Arcus is pretty serious when it comes to his job, taking the matter of Inkopolis' security seriously while also considering other factors such as public reactions. However he is not unreasonable and does not hold any sort of grudge towards the Octarians, he also keeps the New Squidbeak Splatoon hidden from public view, along with the Squid Sisters. Although he is married, his family as not made an appearance yet, though Cuttlefish mentioned he has "found a loving wife".

Likes: Squidbeak Splatoon, "Uncle Craig", his wife.

Dislikes: Complicated security issues, headaches

**Octarians:**

**Victoria Holter**: Octoling, originally an average Octoling soldier, Victoria wandered into Inkopolis on accident, she was originally distrustful of Kalus and the other Inklings, but have come to learn that they are not the evil creatures Octavio had them made out to be. Victoria is often serious, calm and cunning, choosing never to outright stand against anyone, however when things go wrong, Victoria will often lose her cool. Victoria is loyal to the Octarian race despite her friendships with Inker and the others.

Likes: Her family, Calamari Inkantation, Octo Valley, Victory, Ka("Neon! Don't you dare!")

("Come on guys! Let's pin her down before she messed up more bios!")

("Hey! All four of you ganging up on me isn't fair!")

Dislikes: Octavia, Violet, being talked down too,

**Lynn**: Octoling, a soldier serving under the Octarian captain. Lynn is as loyal as they come and will gladly follow orders, though this is revealed to be because Lynn doubts her own decision making ability. She was good friends with Claire, who would often tell her to make decisions on her own, advice she eventually took to heart. After Claire's death, Lynn seems to have taken her place as the Captain's right hand.

Likes: Orders, the captain

Dislikes: Almost getting splatted everytime she visits the Inklings.

**Minor Characters:**

**Mauve Fields** (Deceased): Laven and Lila's mother.

**Wister Fields** (Deceased): Laven and Lila's father.

**Mire family** (Deceased): Bogs' family.

**Lissa Asio**: A doctor working Lila's case.

**Virril Steenson**: The prime minister of Inkopolis.

**Harting**: a minister of Inkopolis.


	26. Approaching Conflict

**Revolution (Chapters 26-30)**

_Already feeling out of place in Inkopolis, the recent events with the Vanguard movement and Octarian spy have made it clear that Inkopolis is not a safe place to hide. With a common enemy in mind, Victoria plans to join the disavowed Octarian captain and her forces on the off chance that they could maybe overthrow Octavia. Meanwhile Kal is stuck with a shattered Lila, still unwilling to accept that she killed her family while under mind control._

* * *

**Cephalic Hospital, Inkopolis**

Kal sat in a well lit and clean room, as expected of a doctor's office.

Sitting in front of him was a Dr Asio, the one Arcus told Kal to speak with.

Kal had spent the last three days pretending to be Laven and he appeared to be getting into it as well.

Instead of his usual T-shirts, Kal wore a grape hoodie, as it was similar to what Laven liked to wear.

He also carried a Blaster with him.

instead of wearing headbands or earphones, Kal wore a backwards cap.

All in all, he looked much more like Laven now.

Kal had found out quite a bit during the last few days with Lila, so today was the day he decided to speak to the doctor Arcus mentioned.

"So your name is Kalus Kogia, though recently you've been going by Laven Fields. My name is Lissa Asio, I believe the defense minister referred me to you." Dr Asio spoke with a level formality Kal was not to familiar with.

"Yeah, but you can call me Kal if you like."

'Okay Mr Kogia." The doctor said, while scribbling down some notes.

It all gave the impression of a serious and no nonsense individual, not exactly a fun Inkling to be around, but good for getting the job done.

"Now, since you've come to me, I believe you're here to talk about Lila Fields."

"Yes, there's quite a few things I've noticed over the past few days, that I think you should know."

"I'm listening."

Kal recalled the first important thing.

Over the last three days Lila would sometimes wince or cringe and hold her head.

It first happened when Kal slept on the couch instead of Laven's bed.

Then again when he was cooking breakfast.

After that it happened when Kal used his own laptop instead of Laven's, when Kal could not find the keys to the house and when Kal mentioned texting Victoria.

He didn't make sense of it at first, but after two days Kal realised that it was because he was doing something out of character for Laven.

"Everytime I do something strange, well not strange but something that Laven wouldn't do, Lila acts as if she's in pain."

"Can describe her behavior?"

"She either winces or cringes and sometimes she holds and shakes her head."

"Interesting." Dr Asio commented, scribbling down more notes

"That's all you have to say? Do you have any idea why is she doing that?"

"I have a theory, but I can't disclose certain information about the patient, Lila Fields."

"Are you serious, what's the point of me coming here then?"

"To give us more of an insight on Lila's condition."

"What's the point? I'm the one stuck dealing with her all day."

"You aren't exactly a legal guardian for her, but this may be an exception. I'll have to contact the IMPA (Inkopolis Medical Protective Association) about this case. If they make an exception I shall get in contact with you about Lila. For now please continue with your observations."

Dr Asio was one to do everything by the book.

Even though Kal felt that common sense should apply here, he wasn't about to push it any further and leave a bad impression.

What else had he learned?

Lila not only denied her family's death, but also the whole existence of the Vanguard movement and everything else that happened after her rescue.

She wouldn't just claim nothing happened, but she would actively shut those ideas out.

Everytime Lila encountered anything related to the Vanguard movement, the Octarian spy the first wave of Vanguard attacks, she would immediately shut it out.

Kal had seen her suddenly tear up mails that had the Vanguard movement as a subject, or shut down the TV whenever Inkopolis news time mentioned Vanguards or Octarian spies. She even when as far as to toss her phone across the room when an article on the Vanguard movement appeared on it.

Actually that last one gave him a fright.

"Lila is trying really hard to avoid reality, she does everything she can to shut out anything that reminds her of the Vanguard movement or the Octarian spy."

"Well seeing how she should be in the first stage of grief, that is not unusual."

"Didn't you say you couldn't tell me anything?"

"I said I couldn't disclose any information about Lila, however the stages of grief is pretty common knowledge."

Kal nodded _'So I can ask for advice, but not for information regarding Lila.'_

"Say, can I get your opinion on something?"

"Is it related to Lila?"

"Yes somewhat. A friend of mine once said that if someone took away your family, it's natural to seek revenge on whoever did it. I thought it was true and believed it, so why is it that Lila isn't seeking revenge?"

The friend in question was Victoria, who had also lost her family, however unlike Lila she first tried to strangle her roommate for getting them killed, then after that began a period of grief.

Kal had considered what Victoria had said, but if it were true, then why is it that Lila is rejecting reality instead of seeking revenge on the Octarian army.

"Well yes what you said is true. For example should a robber splat your family while robbing a bank, you would naturally feel compelled to find and punish the robber. However with Lila I cannot say for certain as I do not know the effects of Octarian brainwashing."

"But you have an idea?"

"A theory, yes."

"Well I do too, you see if we use the example you just gave, a robber is easy to villainize. But what about Lila's case? She probably saw the death of her family first hand, but who should she blame here? The entire Octarian army for splatting them? Or herself for creating and leading the Vanguard movement into Octo Valley? Maybe she's confused and avoids thinking about it by burying herself in a false reality."

Dr Asio scribbled frantically.

"That's it? You have nothing to say?"

"Interesting theory." Dr Asio said while continuing to write down notes.

Kal sat for a while, thinking about other important things.

"How much has Arcus told you about me?"

"Hmm? Well let's see."

Since Dr Asio had so many patients she could not possibly remember one Inkling from the rest, she searched for a file containing Kal's information.

"Ahh here we are, let's see, basic information on age, gender, skin tone and colour. A few turf war statistics, a medical record."

"That's everything? Did Arcus tell you anything else?"

"If he did and it wasn't written down, there's no way I'd remember."

Kal was somewhat hoping the doctor to ask "why?"

Guess she wasn't the chatty type.

"If you could get some more information on Octarian brainwashing, do you think you could fix Lila?"

"Fix isn't the correct word, but if I did, then I could probably find a way to help Lila accept reality and move on."

If Arcus had told her about Victoria, then Kal would have explained that he could probably learn more about Lila's brainwashing through the Octarian captain. Since he didn't however, Kal could only suggest that maybe he could get some more information.

"Well then, thanks for your time doc. That's all I had to say."

"No problem, come see me again if you learn anything new."

Kal left Asio's office and sighed loudly.

'_I thought this would be over by now.'_

Composing himself, Kal went towards the lobby.

Lila was still afraid of losing Kal, so she wanted to follow him everywhere he went, currently she was waiting in the lobby, waiting for her "dear brother".

She sat cheerfully, swinging her legs as she waited. Once she saw Kal, she leapt to her feet and ran towards him.

"Laven!"

The happy Lila hugged Kal, she had done this a lot of the past few days, it was weird at first, but Kal eventually started to get used to it.

He stroked Lila's head

"Alright Lila, let's head home."

Lila let go of Kal and skipped outside with her hands by her side.

Even though she was borderline insane, Lila looked like she was full of flowers and sunshine as she twirled around after stepping outside.

While seeing her happy like this was heartwarming, Kal knew that she was in quite a lot of danger.

She couldn't keep denying everything like this, otherwise she'll never move on.

Also Kal didn't want to be Laven forever.

What if he ran into some of Laven's friends? What would they think if they found some stranger pretending to be him?

"Look! There's an ice cream truck! Let's get some cones!"

Lila excited, bounced up and down pointing at an ice cream truck stopped on the side of the road.

Even though she could change between squid and kid forms, she was still an 11 year old.

"Alright, why not." Kal smiled

'_I want to end this as soon as possible, but I guess keeping Lila happy ain't so bad.'_

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

It had been over a week since they lost contact with the infiltration team.

There had been nine Octolings and an Elite Octoling sent in, they were accompanied by a sleeper agent.

One that had led forty or so Inklings into a big ambush, an ambush that saw less than ten Octarian casualties and the eradication of the entire Inkling group.

While it was a shame to lose the infiltration team, Acting Leader Octavia was nonetheless pleased with the result.

Not only had they fooled hundreds of Inklings on the surface into thinking that they could take on Octo Valley head first, but they also obtained lots of Inkling equipment.

They could always give that equipment to other Octolings and have them slip into Inkopolis when the second wave of the foolish Vanguard movement came.

Aside from that, there were also Octolings testing the unknown Inkling weapons.

In a firing range at Nautilus base, Octolings held weapons of all shapes and sizes.

One spammed weak Splat Charger shots, before realizing she could charge the weapon up.

Another swung around an Inkbrush, before declaring it to be as useless and obsolete like the old Octobrushes.

"Woooohooo! hahhahhah!"

A third squealed with joy, firing a heavy splatling, she seemed to like the idea of a heavy shooter weapon.

A fourth fired Laven's Blaster, shooting powerful balls of ink which exploded on impact, the Octoling liked the weapon, and a few others demanded that they be allowed to try it.

As this went on, more Octolings practiced using Rollers.

Octavia had seen how effective a Roller was when used properly, she somewhat regretted ordering that captain to scrap all the rollers she made.

Of course the captain in question was now a traitor, and wasn't even a captain anymore.

"Have you found the location of Vale and the other traitors?" Octavia asked an Elite Octoling.

"My division is working day and night, though we have found several camps over the past week they have all appear to be abandoned, perhaps the traitors planned on moving from camp to camp?"

If that was the case, then they could possibly catch former captain Vale if they waited for her there.

"Leave a splatoon near every camp you find, tell them to stay on alert in case the traitors show up."

"Yes ma'am."

Octavia turned to a tactical map of Octo Valley, watching the blips representing Octarian units spreading out to each discovered camp.

"Little traitor Vale, where are you trying to hide? To think that you were once hailed as a hero of Octo Valley. You have fallen so far."

* * *

Meanwhile in a random part of Octo Valley, Lynn and a bunch of other Octarians were busy setting up a new camp.

Lynn hammered nails into a tower.

Beside her, another Octoling, who had been unloading materials from what appeared to be the Octarian equivalent of a truck, groaned.

"I don't get it, if we want to overthrow Octavia, why are we wasting time setting up plywood camps and broken kettles all over Octo Valley?"

"I'm sure the captain has her reasons." Lynn replied.

There was a third voice

"Oh no!"

Lynn and the other Octoling turned to see an Octotrooper fall and get stuck under a large piece of plywood.

"Oww, hey Lynn, Eliza, can you get this thing off me?" the Octotrooper called out, pinned beneath the plywood.

"Yeah we could." the Octoling said.

"You could but you won't, is that what you are saying? What happened to cameradere?"

Lynn and the other Octoling laughed and continued to talk amongst themselves, pretending to ignore the Octotrooper.

"Come on, I don't have arms of my own, i'll share my rations with you if you help me."

"Well in that case.." both Lynn and the other Octoling helped the Octotrooper back up.

Once he was back on his feet, Lynn and the other Octoling balanced the plywood back into the trooper's single tentacle.

"Don't drop it again." Lynn warned

"Yeah I got it."

"Remember your promise! share your rations with both of us!" the other Octoling joked.

"Oh screw you!" the Octotrooper yelled back.

They had a good laugh after that.

Maybe they would bother him a bit more at meal time, maybe not.

It's not like an Octotrooper needed as much food as an Octoling.

The captain observed as another camp was hastily thrown together.

Lynn, having finished her part, reported back to the captain.

"Alright captain it's almost done, but may I ask why we are setting up all these extra camps if we are just going to abandon them right after?"

Over the last week, their splatoon had raided Melanin prison's armory for supplies, then they had done nothing but set up camps all over the Valley, it was tiring work.

They already had a main camp set up, one that wasn't hastily thrown together in a few hours and made of cheap plywood and old tents.

"Well you see Lynn, we can't hope to beat Octavia head on, at least not when she still has support of almost the entire army. These camps are here to provide a distraction."

"Distraction?"

"Yes, with they way they are spread out all over the Valley, Octavia will likely assume that they are meant to be waypoints or something. If everything goes according to plan, she'll spread the army thin to watch each fake camp."

It was a trick to get Octavia to waste soldiers on guarding useless plywood.

"But won't they just disassemble the camps?"

"If they did, they would lose a chance at catching us since we would notice its absence from further away. Though it will be a problem if they really do take down the camps."

It was a risk they had to take.

"Anyways, this is the last fake camp we need. Lynn you should sneak back to Inkopolis and bring the other Octoling here, please don't get caught."

"I won't ma'am, but can I ask why you want this specific Octoling to join us?"

The captain stood in silence, staring off into the distance.

She appeared to be reminiscing about something.

"That Octoling is named Holter, so she's probably the daughter of Maria Holter…"

"The Elite who retired early and burned her own home?"

"You shouldn't believe everything the Octo Valley News Bulletin tells you. Maria Holter taught me quite a lot while I was a recruit during the Salmonid war, also unlike the other Elites, she wasn't as strict or cold to the recruits, well not always at least. Anyways we need all the help we can get, and that Victoria could turn out to be pretty useful."

"Understood, I will prepare and depart for Inkopolis." Lynn saluted the captain before leaving.

The captain stood for a while longer.

'_Victoria and her connections with Inkopolis could prove to be useful. Not that I'd say that.'_

She thought about Agent 3, the Octarian army's worst enemy, who turned out to be young and naive.

He might help out if Victoria was among their ranks.

Not just that, but maybe they could wring some much needed supplies from the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

'_The enemy of my enemy is my friend, pfft.' _She laughed at the idea. _'Sure i'll be your friend, as long as I still have a use for you.'_

Agent 3 might help them for now, but in the end they are still enemies.

'_I won't lose track of my enemies Agent 3, no matter how many there are…. That being said, perhaps I should at least make myself seem trustworthy and not like an enemy...'_

'_Maybe I should go with Lynn, i'm sure the camp will be fine.'_

Deciding that it would be better if she went herself, the captain decided to go with Lynn to Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack.

They had to move cautiously lest they attract the attention of the Octarian army.

'_I hope they don't shoot at me again.' _Was the only thing on Lynn's mind.

* * *

**Inkopolis**

It seemed that Laven used to take Lila around Inkopolis pretty often, so today Kal did the same.

Lila skipped and hopped around Inkopolis, followed by Kal, who wore a warm smile on his face.

Kal had told the others to try not to talk to him for the moment, since Lila seemed to be in pain every time she saw Kal do something Laven wouldn't.

Of course that didn't stop them from noticing him as he passed by.

"Kal is looking less and less like himself." Sky said, taking note of Kal's change in clothing choice.

"Yeah, it's so strange seeing him act like Laven." Neon added

Inker nodded in agreement "He's doing all this so that Lila can escape reality, I feel bad for both of them."

They watched Kal take Lila to an arcade machine, all while Lila called Kal "Laven" repeatedly.

This couldn't go on for too long, they all knew this, especially Kal.

Kal knew he could never replace Laven, it was impossible for him to perfectly replicate someone else.

Kal felt that it was only a matter of time before Lila realized that he wasn't Laven. What would happen to her after that?

Kal envisioned it going two ways: Lila committing suicide out of grief, or being locked away kicking and screaming.

He shuddered at those thoughts.

"Laven? What's the matter?" Lila asked, pressing herself onto Kal and looking into his eyes.

"Oh nothing, I was just thinking about someone else."

"Oh who?"

"A friend of mine, who is moving out of Inkopolis soon." It was the only other thing Kal could think of.

'_When was Lynn coming back? When was Victoria leaving?'_

"Oh? Who is it? Deep? Aurip?"

Kal didn't know any of the names Lila mentioned.

He wasn't Laven after all.

"No, I don't think you've met her anyways."

"Her!? Did you find a girlfriend!?"

"No!"

Lila tilted her head "hmm? But mom always said that it wasn't natural for an eighteen year old like you to not know any girls."

'_Eighteen year old? Wait a sec Laven was older than me?!'_

Kal was sixteen….

Even after three days, Kal kept learning more and more about Laven through conversations like this.

"I do know some girls, but none of them are my girlfriend."

Lila still looked confused

"If its a girl who is your friend, doesn't that make her a girlfriend?"

Lila's curious and confused expression would be considered cute, if she wasn't crazy.

"It's more complicated then that okay. Yes the friend i'm referring to is a girl, but not a girlfriend, a girlfriend is like, something more."

"But what's more than friends? Family?"

'_Family?'_

Kal started imagining a family with Victoria in it.

He shook himself back to reality _'Now i'm just digging myself into a hole.'_

"Let's just call it more than friends, but less than family. Hey look, it's the Squid Sisters."

Desperate to get himself out of that topic, Kal pointed at the Inkopolis News studio, where Callie and Marie were usually visible through the window.

"Oh! It really is them again!" Lila skipped over and pressed herself against the window, waving happily.

Noticing Lila, Callie and Marie waved back.

Lila hopped with joy upon seeing the two idols wave back.

From their spot inside the studio, Callie and Marie smiled as they saw the little girl hop with joy.

"How cute" Callie muttered

Marie nodded

There smiles were replaced with a look of confusion for a moment, when they recognised Kal showing up to bring Lila away.

Kal waved at the two, and they both went back to their usual smiling and waving.

Though they were somewhat confused with what they just saw, so both of them planned on asking Inker about it later.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

Lynn and the captain were almost at Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack.

Remembering what happened the last two times, Lynn stopped the captain a good distance away from the shack.

"Captain, you should wait here for a moment. I was almost shot the last two times, so allow me to go first."

"Okay then, go ahead."

The captain drew her Octoshot in case Lynn got into trouble.

Under the captain's watchful gaze, Lynn cautiously approached the shack.

Cuttlefish recognised Lynn this time, probably since she was the only Octoling he had seen with a ponytail.

This time, much to Lynn's relief, nobody shot at her with a charger type weapon.

"Cap'n Cuttlefish, I'm here to pick up Holter, this time my commanding officer as arrived too. Captain!"

With that, she waved at the captain, letting her know that it was okay to approach.

The captain walked up to the shack.

'_So this is the hero of the Great Turf War and the leader of the New Squidbeak Splatoon.'_

The captain crossed her arms, still holding her Octoshot in one hand and observed the old veteran.

As expected, the Cap'n was old and appeared weak.

Of course the first thing the Octarian captain noticed was Cuttlefish's walking cane.

She could see what appeared to be a trigger under Cuttlefish's finger and therefore knew it was a weapon, probably a disguised one for self defense.

If it was anyone else, they probably wouldn't have guessed the walking stick was actually a Bamboozler.

'_A concealed weapon, not bad.'_

Cuttlefish in the meantime, had texted Inker, letting him know that Lynn was back and that she brought company.

Then Cuttlefish eyed the Octarian captain.

There was a sense of rivalry between the two.

Both captains stared holes into each other.

"So, you are a Captain." Cuttlefish said

"Yes, though we are of the same rank, one of us has got more time ahead of them."

Cuttlefish laughed "Why yes I do, after all the average life expectancy in Inkopolis is around 150 years. What about Octo Valley?"

The answer was 25 years, but the captain wouldn't say it.

"We're working on improving it, at least I am."

"Well then, I wouldn't want to distract you from your work."

"Neither would I, I'll be gone as soon as I've had a chance to speak with Holter and Agent 3. Then you can go back to napping, or snacking, or whatever it is you do."

Cuttlefish chucked, "I've never had time for that, I've been here guarding Inkopolis for the past hundred years."

"And doing a poor job at it. I'm an Elite Octoling, I know how Octavia snuck us into Inkopolis in the first place. Didn't you ever notice you've had a bit too many crabby cakes?"

Cuttlefish only realized now, that the squidnappings happened every time he "found" more crabby cakes.

The years had not been kind to his instincts.

Not that he would admit it to the captain.

Meanwhile Lynn, watching from the sidelines, grew increasingly nervous at the tense atmosphere created by her captain and Cap'n Cuttlefish.

The two were staring each other down, they both smiled yet there was no happiness between them.

Lynn couldn't find any words in this tense atmosphere.

Much to her relief, Inker came through the manhole, wearing his hero suit.

"Ahh Agent 3! Perfect timing, it looks like these two will fight any second now!"

"What are you talking about?" the captain's voice felt cold "I'm just having a friendly talk with a fellow captain."

"Yes, it's not everyday you get to speak with an officer from another army." Cuttlefish added, with an equally cold voice.

Inker noticed the atmosphere, as tense as a rope being stretched.

It would probably be a good idea to separate those two.

"Hey! Victoria's on her way, let's make sure all of us are still alive when she gets here." Inker said to the two captains.

"Of course bucko"

"As if there was any doubt."

Despite their assurances, Cuttlefish and the captain both looked ready to pounce on each other.

A captain from the Octarian army and a captain from the now disbanded Inkopolis army, the would definitely be some sort of hostility between the two.

"Hey captain"

Cuttlefish turned to Inker

"No not you Cap'n, her. Yeah you captain." Inker was having trouble addressing the two. He scratched his head "it's kinda hard talking to you when you are also called captain."

The captain, without averting her gaze from Cap'n Cuttlefish, said "Hmph very well then, since there is no other way around it, you can call me Captain Vale for now."

"Alright, Captain Vale, do you know anything about brainwashing and mind control?" it was an important topic at the moment, it could help Kal with the Lila problem and maybe stop the staredown between the Cuttlefish and Vale.

"Yes, I know all about it, I am an Elite Octoling after all."

"Could you do it to an Inkling?"

"Of course! If you are so interested, I could show you first hand." The captain said with an evil grin.

"No! I just wanted to learn more about it."

At this time, Victoria had arrived, she carried her bag with her, and wore Octoling armor under her Varsity jacket. She had no Octoshot, so Kal's Splattershot would have to do.

Behind her was Kal, still dressed like Laven.

Kal probably wanted to see Victoria off, though for some reason Neon and Sky had followed as well.

Inker continued

"The spy you mentioned, was one the prisoners at Melanin, she had been brainwashed and I was wondering if you could do anything about it."

"I've got enough on my hands already, I don't have time to undo brainwashing, it's quite a lengthy process."

"Well then, could you at least tell me more about it? Why is it that a young girl obeys everything when a certain word is mustered?"

The captain looked over at Agent 3, finally breaking the staredown between her and Cuttlefish.

She seemed surprised

"Young girl? Is it that purple girl I tossed into the boiling pit?"

"Yep that's her: Lila Fields."

"So it was her huh, you mentioned obeying certain words? Then that means Octavia took her from me to implant a much quicker, simpler and easily exploitable form of mind control. Hmph, what a waste, I had something much better planned."

She didn't feel any bit of remorse or sympathy for Lila, all she saw was a wasted opportunity.

Kal, standing on the sidelines grew furious at the captain's lack of concern for Lila.

"Why you!"

Kal threw a punch at Captain Vale, but he had completely forgotten about her hand to hand fighting skill at Melanin prison.

Vale caught Kal's punch, then she pulled him closer while driving her knee into his chest. As Kal coughed in pain, she twisted his arm, spun around and had him pinned from behind.

"If you're going to attack someone, you shouldn't yell until after the first strike." Vale was terrifyingly calm as she was confident in her combat abilities.

To her side, Captain Vale noticed that Neon had raised her E-Liter at her.

Lynn knew she had to defend her CO, so she had her Octoshot aimed at Neon, although she trembled slightly.

"Easy now you two, Captain Vale, let him go please." Inker said

Silently, the captain let Kal go.

Kal stood up, his back facing Captain Vale, then without a word he turned quickly, driving his arm towards the Captain's face.

Despite staying quiet this time, Captain Vale didn't even flinch, she brought an arm up at lightning speed, blocking Kal's attack.

"Better." she commented.

"Kal? What's gotten into you?" Inker asked

Ignoring Inker, Kal spoke to Captain Vale

"Lila watched her family get splatted in front of her, you have no idea how much pain and grief she's going through."

"Oh really? I lost my whole family when I could barely talk. Then I was raised by the family of my best friend, who died during the war against the Salmonids and then her family died in an accident. But sure, if you think Lila's gone through worse, keep talking."

Kal forgot that Octarians die in Octo Valley each day, that it was such a damaged place that accidents were common and nobody grieved for the unlucky ones aside from their families.

He still didn't like this Elite Octoling though, treating Lila's brainwashing as nothing but a missed opportunity.

Silently he backed away, returning to Neon and Victoria's side.

Since Kal wasn't going to continue, Inker did.

"Sorry about that, but I think my friend Kal there had every right to be mad, you were planning on brainwashing Lila? Why would you do such a thing?"

"It only seems wrong to you because you've spent so long in that padded city of Inkopolis spoiling yourself. All's fair in love and war, don't get so bent out of shape. Besides Octarians lose their family members each day because you Inklings won't let have a single zapfish."

"Yeah I heard that before, but did you really have to get Lila involved?"

"It's not like I chose to squidnap her specifically, I just made use of what was given to me. Besides its Octavia who completed Lila's brainwashing, don't put all the blame on me."

"I won't. Lila's been denying reality, pretending that her family is still alive. In fact she started pretending that Kal is her brother Laven. What do you know about that?"

"That sounds normal."

"Normal? What's normal about that?"

"I'm sorry, when did we agree that I should be answering all your questions? I just came for Holter."

Since Vale wouldn't talk, Inker had to take a more aggressive approach.

"I didn't want to play it like this, but you owe me. You wouldn't be here if I hadn't shown up back then."

"Oh really? If I recall correctly, it's Lynn who promised to repay you, not me. So why don't you ask her instead?"

Suddenly being dragged into the conversation, Lynn had a nervous look on her face.

She quickly glanced at Captain Vale and Inker, before looking down.

Both Inker and Captain Vale watched her twittle her thumbs.

"Umm sorry, but I don't know anything about brainwashing." Lynn said with an apologetic tone.

"Well, there you have it." The captain concluded.

"You know we already have Octavia and the army to deal with, is it really a good idea to make more enemies?"

Victoria suddenly cut in.

The captain glanced at Victoria in surprise.

'_Right I came because I wanted to make myself seem trustworthy. Dangit I let my emotions run loose again….' _She looked at Agent 3 and Cap'n Cuttlefish_ 'Why do I get so riled up in presence of Inklings?'_

The captain had returned to her senses.

"I wasn't trying to make more enemies, I just didn't feel like answering the question."

"Just say that next time." Inker said

"Alright then. Anyways Victoria Holter, will you be joining us or not?"

Victoria wanted to, but she was having a bit of regret at the last moment.

She didn't feel like she belonged in Inkopolis, but she had friends here, unlike in Octo Valley where it was recommended not to make friends.

Victoria looked at the Inklings present.

There was Neon, who was always super playful and cheerful. Even though she nearly splatted Victoria once and was always sort of weird, Victoria didn't dislike her.

There was Inker, who Victoria first assumed was a cold hearted killer of Octarians, but turned out to be a nice guy who didn't like having to splat her people in the first place.

Sky was here too, but he hadn't done or said anything yet, he always had a low sense of presence, Victoria never talked to him much, would he be considered a friend?

And then there was Kal.

Kal nodded, encouraging Victoria to go.

"Go ahead, Inkopolis isn't going anywhere, just stay safe."

Victoria smiled

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself."

They would see each other again… hopefully.

"Alright captain, for the sake of the Octarian race, we will bring down Octavia together."

"Hey don't forget about me!"

Suddenly rushing to Victoria's side was Neon.

She had her E-Liter rested across her shoulders, her eyes shining with anticipation.

"I knew it…." someone muttered, it was Sky, finally doing something noticeable.

He expected Neon to do something unnecessary, which is why he followed her to Octo Valley in the first place.

He went up to Neon and pulled her away.

"Come on now, stop bothering Victoria and that captain."

"Ow ow ow, That hurts! Stop it Sky, I just wanted to tag along!"

The captain raised an eyebrow at the strange scene before her.

Inker and Kal chuckled, so did Cap'n Cuttlefish.

"Who are they?" Captain Vale asked

"Oh, two of my friends, the girl is Neon and the guy is Sky." Inker replied

"Those aren't nicknames are they?"

Inker shook her head

"No they aren't."

'_Inker, Neon and Sky, strange names, I'm guessing the red guy must have an equally odd name.'_ Vale concluded.

'_I do need all the help I can get, maybe Agent 3 might come along if another Inkling came with me.'_

"Hey Neon, you wanted to join my splatoon?" Vale called out to Neon, who was still being dragged by Sky.

Neon elbowed Sky.

Sky went "oof" weakening his hold on Neon, allowing her to slip free.

"Yeah definitely."

"You know that we will always be outnumbered and will need to rely on hit and runs." Victoria added.

"Oh that's perfect! It will be so much more fun! Beside I always superjump from squid beakon to squid beakon, during turf wars!" Neon exclaimed, bouncing with excitement.

"Huh?" Captain Vale was confused by Neon's response.

"Oh right, she's like that, she loves fighting." Inker said "Neon, keep in mind that if you get splatted in Octo Valley, you can't come back."

"I won't get splatted, you worry too much. I've been down here several times already."

"If she wants to come along, that's fine." the captain declared

Neon was hopping with joy

"Alright! You won't regret it! Seriously, you could send me in alone if you want."

Inker sighed_ 'That's exactly what i'm worried about. This captain Vale isn't exactly fond of Inklings, she might just send Neon on a suicide mission right off the bat. Guess I have no other choice.'_

"If she's going with you, then I am too." Inker said "I want to make sure you don't put my friend into any danger."

"I can't guarantee that, but if you want to come, then suit yourself."

"In that case, I'll be here as mission control if you ever need me." Sky chimed in, not one to be left out.

As for Kal.

"Well then, stay safe everyone."

'_Dammit, I wanted to go, even before this I wanted to go with Victoria, but now i'm stuck with Lila.'_

Kal reluctantly watched Inker, VIctoria and Neon leave with Lynn and the captain.

"Hey why the long face Kal?" Sky asked

"Nothing, just kinda worried."

"Don't worry, its Inker and Neon we are talking about here. Besides, if you ever want to talk with them, just use Cuttlefish's mission control room, I could show you how it works."

"Thanks, but I don't know if i'll have the time. I need to head back now, Lila gets incredibly worried whenever she can't see me."

"So that's why you didn't go with them."

"You could tell?"

"Its pretty obvious, besides I wanted to go too, but if I did i'd just cause problems for everyone."

"You too huh.."

Kal glanced at his squid phone.

"I really need to go, Lila is texting me like crazy, see ya!"

Kal had to hurry back to the Fields' house, leaving everyone else behind.


	27. Uneasy Alliance

**Fields' family household, Inkopolis**

Lila was worried, she hadn't seen Laven for a while.

Well in this case it was Kal not Laven, but still.

Apparently he had something he needed to do and couldn't bring her along.

Lila stared at her phone screen, reading the last message Kal had sent her.

"Don't worry, i'm coming back now."

Though it was only received a few minutes ago, Lila felt like hours had passed.

Even though she was worried, she wasn't about to run outside and possibly miss Kal's return, so Lila sat around waiting, impatiently tapping the coffee table as she waited.

'_Why is he taking so long?!'_

Many thoughts ran through her head, did he get into trouble? An accident? Did he get hurt? Was he in danger?

Those thoughts were interrupted by the mechanical sound of the door unlocking.

"I'm back!"

Lila, who had been worried for nothing, immediately perked up again upon seeing Kal.

Well she didn't actually see him.

"Laven!"

Lila felt as if they had been apart for months, she ran and embraced Kal at full speed, nearly knocking him off his feet in the process.

"Whoa! Easy there Lila."

"Sorry! You were gone for so long, I was getting worried."

'_I was barely out for an hour…..'_ Kal thought, perhaps Lila was becoming too dependant on him.

It would be worth mentioning to Dr Asio.

Lila, who had her face buried in Kal's chest, looked up at him.

For some reason Kal had a sad looking face.

"Laven? You look sad, what's wrong?"

"Huh? I do?"

Kal didn't realise it.

He was still thinking about Octo Valley.

Victoria, Inker, Sky and Neon were all there, all his real friends, not whoever Deep or Aurip was.

"Yeah, is something bothering you again? Come on stop trying to hide stuff from me, i'm your sister!"

'_No you are not,.' _Kal wanted to say.

"Well remember how I said one of my friends was leaving town? She just did, maybe I'm a little sad to see her go."

Lila nodded

"Yeah yeah, saying goodbye is a hard thing to do, especially when someone moves out, since you can't see them as often as before. Don't worry, I'll always be here for you!"

Kal had to fake a smile

"Thanks."

It wasn't that he didn't like Lila's company, but rather because he didn't like the idea of being Laven forever.

Besides it was much more complicated than just seeing Victoria leave.

Would she really fit in with the rebelling Octarians.

And how would those Octarians see Inker and Neon? Both had splatted many of their kind.

Kal wondered how they were doing.

Not that things would have been different if he went along with them, but at least then he would know what's happening.

* * *

**Guerilla camp, Octo Valley**

It took a few hours to reach the main camp.

Captain Vale and Lynn lead the way, constantly keeping an eye out for any Octarian scouts.

Finally they reached a kettle, one that was mostly buried into the ground for better concealment.

"Well, here we are." the captain said.

She leaned over to the kettle, which appeared to be inactive.

"Honor to the valley."

The kettle powered up again.

"Come on everyone, get inside quickly."

Lynn entered first, followed by everyone else, the captain entered last.

What awaited them on the other side was an underground lair serving as the captain and her splatoon's base of operations.

It looked like an underground dome, almost reminding Inker of the kelp dome, but there was not really any vegetation here.

Well that was to be expected since it was underground.

There was a good number of Octarians here, they varied between Octotroopers and Octolings.

They were alerted to the captain's arrival and quickly made ranks, saluting as the captain walked by, followed by Lynn, Victoria, Inker and Neon.

"This is my rest of my splatoon or what remains of it, 24 Octolings, 3 Octoballs and 70 Octotroopers." the captain told the newcomers.

"It may be odd that a splatoon has such a large number of troops in it, but since we lost many Elites in defending the Zapfish, so we have had less officers capable of leading separate splatoons and battalions, so many splatoons were merged together." Captain Vale explained

Inker was mostly responsible for that, having splatted many Elite Octolings during his quest to save the Great Zapfish.

Inker noticed many gazes shift his way as he followed Captain Vale.

The troops glanced and whispered among themselves at the sight of Inker and Neon.

They had not expected their captain to return with Inklings.

Inker felt uncomfortable under the eyes of so many Octarians.

Suddenly, Inker felt a strong burning sensation in his left arm.

"Ow! What the!?"

Neon, Victoria and Lynn all turned towards Inker, who had cried out for some reason.

Someone had shot him.

There was bright magenta ink on his arm.

Inker shook his arm and looked at the many Octarians to his left, all of which averted their gazes to the captain.

The captain noticed this as well, she glared at a specific Octoling, who continued to salute the captain, acting as if nothing happened.

"Lynn, take our guests to the spare rooms."

"Right away ma'am. Come on guys."

Lynn led Victoria, Neon and Inker away, though Inker kept glancing back over in the direction where the shot came from.

Once they were gone, the captain turned to the other troops.

"Soldiers, you may be questioning the recent events, but everything we have done was done with purpose. Over the past week we spent our time a limited resources on creating fake camps throughout Octo valley, that was to trick Octavia into spreading the army thin and give us a better fighting chance. Now I have went and gotten help from another wanted Octoling, one with connections in Inkopolis which could prove useful. As always, there must be trust among ourselves, so if any of you have any concerns, speak up now."

Almost immediately, there were a dozen voices.

"Why did you reveal our location to Agent 3?"

"This is our fight, why did you bring Agent 3 into it?"

"Octavia is bad enough, but Agent 3?"

"Agent 3 has to have an angle here, why else would he save us in the first place?"

"This is an Octarian problem, you didn't need to bring Inklings into it."

And much more like that.

They were not too fond of the idea that they would be working with Inklings.

"While I appreciate your concern, the truth is that we have a common enemy, so it makes sense to have some sort of co-operation with Agent 3. I'm not saying that it will last however, I am aware that Agent 3 is ultimately our enemy, when the time comes we will deal with him."

There were more murmurs among the troops

"I don't like this, this feels wrong."

"Well this is the captain's choice, I'm sure she has considered everything."

"I suggest we splat him when he goes to bed tonight."

"Now that's a bit too far, even Agent 3 wouldn't do something like that."

"Agent 3 won't help us unless it benefits Inkopolis, we should watch our backs."

"Maybe it would have been better if we all opened fire on him earlier."

"He probably would have splatted us all then."

"I can't tell which is worse, Octavia or Agent 3?"

"If we get rid of Octavia we can return to our usual lives, but if we get rid of Agent 3 we could save thousands of Octarians…"

"Honestly I think the captain already has something planned for him, we should follow along."

"Maybe, but i'd feel much safer without Agent 3 in the lair."

Opinions were divided, some were willing to trust the captain, others wanted to get rid of Agent 3 ASAP.

Considering one of them had shot at Inker earlier, it wouldn't be a surprise if somebody else tried something.

"I don't want any of you trying anything with Agent 3 until I say so, for now just bear with it. Once Agent 3 is no longer useful I'll give the order to splat him, but for now you should all rest up, we will be moving out soon."

The captain scanned the troops, searching for the Octoling who had shot Inker earlier.

Although it may be difficult to tell one Octoling from another, the captain was well used to this, she valued her troops to a point where she knew each of them individually.

She found the Octoling standing among the others and pointed at her.

"You, Eliza, come with me."

"Yes ma'am."

"The rest of you, carry on with whatever you were doing."

The captain took the Octoling named "Eliza" away from the others.

* * *

As that was going on, Lynn had led Victoria, Inker and Neon to the rooms they would stay in.

Victoria would bunk with several other Octolings, something she was already used to during her time in the army, while Neon and Inker was given their own room, probably because the other Octarians would not want to share a room with Inklings.

"We will be having dinner shortly, I'll be back to show you to the mess hall once its time." Lynn said, leaving Inker and Neon to themselves.

As soon as she was gone, Neon threw herself onto her bed.

"Fwahhhhh! That took forever! My feet are sore, I don't think I've ever walked for that long!" Neon cried, glad to finally get off her feet.

She then took note of the hardness of the mattress, hitting it repeatedly a few times.

"This is too hard, we may as well sleep on the floor."

Inker in the meantime, simply sat down and watched Neon.

"This isn't a hotel you know, the stuff here is probably made from anything the captain could salvage." He said

"Huh? So you're telling me we are going to live in a place made of junk and scraps? This sucks!" Neon whined

"Hey you were the one who wanted to come."

"Yeah but that's because I thought there is going to be fighting!"

"Don't head back to Inkopolis yet, there will be soon."

"Yeah yeah I get it, this just isn't turning out to be as fun as I expected….." Neon said, lying down.

"This isn't a game Neon, please take this seriously for once."

"Yeah I got it…. Hold on a sec! Did you say "for once?" Neon shot back up

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah you did! You totally did! Even I can take things seriously, just watch!" Neon pouted

"Heh okay."

Inker checked his hero headset.

"Cap'n can you still read me?"

"Readin' you loud and clear bucko!"

'_Good, it still works'_

Inker was worried that he may not be able to contact Inkopolis from here, but all was well.

Now that it was on his mind, Inker noticed Neon had brought her hero headset too.

Cap'n Cuttlefish didn't have enough hero suits for everyone, so he was only able to give them headsets, Neon and Kal both got one for the mission to rescue Lila.

It seems that Neon was better prepared than expected.

* * *

Meanwhile Eliza, the Octoling who had shot Inker, was following the captain through the lair.

Eliza was not worried one bit, she could already guess why the captain was calling her away and she didn't regret it.

Captain Vale took her to the captain's quarters, shut the door, and took a seat.

"Now Eliza, why did you think it was a good idea to fire at Agent 3?"

There could not have been an easier question.

"He was just standing there, how could I not shoot him, you know how much I hate him."

"So i've heard, I understand your hatred for him, but shooting him isn't doing us any good."

"Maybe not, but it makes me feel better."

"I see, so you think that your feelings are more important than the rest of the splatoon?"

Those words caught Eliza off guard "N-no, not like that."

"And what would you have done if Agent 3 had decided to fire back? Or worse, what if he and the other Inkling went hostile?"

"Well I hadn't thought of that but-"

"I want you to think before acting out like that again, if what you do does not benefit us as a whole, then don't do it." the captain said, her voice growing increasingly stern.

The Octoling grew increasingly annoyed

"He splatted my sister, what did you expect me to do? Kiss his feet?"

Captain Vale already knew what happened to this Octoling, she knew the stories of all her troops, it was her way of making sure they wouldn't be forgotten if they were splatted.

"I know that he took the life of your younger sister, and that it was during her first battle which happened to be on her birthday, but that is not even a valid reason to hate him. Both Agent 3 and your sister were soldiers of opposing armies, it's only natural that one would fall if they met on the battlefield."

"Well yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with losing my sister."

"And what if the roles were reversed? If your sister managed to splat him instead, should there be Inklings going after her for revenge?"

"Well no, it wouldn't be fair since she was just doing her job."

"Yeah? Well Agent 3 was also "just doing his job" yet it's fair for you to hold a grudge against him?"

"What are you trying to do? Convince me to like Agent 3 and stand by his side?"

The captain shook her head.

"I expect you to put aside your grudge and work with him for the time being."

"No, i'm sorry captain, but I just can't do that. I can't stand that guy and I don't want to be anywhere near him."

"Jeez, I'm just asking you to work with him, not marry the guy. Like I said this is only temporary, when the time comes Agent 3 will be brought to heel, begging for mercy. When that time comes, you will have your shot at revenge." That last bit was to encourage Eliza to bear with Agent 3's presence for now and it worked.

'_Agent 3 begging for mercy?'_

Eliza liked the sound of that.

She imagined a scenario where Octavia was defeated, with that she and the rest of the 202nd splatoon could go home. But first they would turn on Agent 3, there would be a fight and in the end Agent 3 would lay battered and bruised at her feet.

Eliza imagined Agent 3 pleading with her to let him go, but she would toy with him like a cat toying with a mouse, giving him a chance to crawl for his Hero Shot only to kick his battered form around at the last moment, watching him roll and groan in pain, before finishing him off in her sister's name.

Eliza liked that idea, she liked it alot.

"Well alright then, I'll bear with it for now…"

"Good girl, now get back to the rest of the splatoon, it should be time for dinner soon."

"Yes ma'am, right away."

Eliza left with a smile on her face.

Meanwhile Lynn went to go get Inker and Neon.

"Come on you two, it's time for dinner."

Lynn led them to the mess hall, where many other Octarians stood in lines, waiting to get the rations for the day.

Inker spotted Victoria in another line, she was chatting with an Octotrooper and an Octoling.

Victoria seemed to fit right in to this splatoon.

As for Inker and Neon, they were constantly shot mean looks from the Octarians.

Everyone was given an equal share of jerky, hardtack and porridge, even Inker and Neon surprisingly, although the Octoling serving the food seemed nervous giving it to them.

Inker didn't say a word until they had gotten their food and were seated.

Inker sat next to an Octoling, who immediately took her rations and went to another table, shooting him a dirty gaze and she walked away.

Neon joined Inker, since she couldn't make conversation with anyone else.

"Why is everyone here so unfriendly?!" Neon complained

Inker sighed "Honestly I should have expected this, I knew the Octarians didn't like us that much, but this…"

"And why don't they serve a salad or something?"

Ignoring Neon, Inker looked around, he could see many Octarians eying them, some nervously others angrily.

He could guess that everyone here either hated his guts or were afraid he'd splat them.

Well everyone except Victoria and Lynn.

However those two were too busy chatting with other Octarians to talk to Inker and Neon.

Silently Inker and Neon ate.

Or at least they tried too.

Like Kal had discovered before them, rationed foods were not particularly tasty.

Inker almost spat out his jerky because of how salty it was, he covered his mouth and swallowed it down. seeing this reaction, Neon resolved to sample the jerky first by licking it.

"Salty! Its saltier than Marie after burgers vs pizza!"

After that she observed her piece of hardtack.

She tapped it with her fingers

The hardtack made a loud 'Tok tok tok' noise.

It didn't look edible at all.

Inker tried to bite his hardtack, but it was so tough that he stopped in fear of chipping his teeth.

Neon struggled with the hardtack, after a while she finally managed to snap it in half.

She and Inker moved on to the rice porridge, which was so thin you could barely see the rice.

Actually to call it porridge was an overstatement, it was basically just water that was barely thick enough to be non lethal if you were to jump into it.

"Are we really supposed to eat this?" Inker wondered.

"Beats me." Neon said, still playing around with her hardtack.

She started grinding the two pieces together, reducing the tough hardtack into crumbs, which fell into her porridge and almost expanded to twice their size.

Neon now had a porridge of soggy cracker crumbs, which she and Inker stared at wordlessly for a moment…

"..."

"..."

Inker on the other hand, gave up on the hardtack and decided to try and make the jerky less salty by rinsing it in the porridge.

Around two thirds of the jerky dissolved, turning the porridge into a light brown colour.

Now Inker had a bowl of strangely coloured porridge.

"..."

"... Was that jerky or soup stock?" Inker wondered.

"I don't know, but i'm getting hungry… Oh well, maybe if we just throw everything together it won't be so bad."

With that, Neon added jerky to her soggy breadcrumb porridge.

She stared at the now light brown porridge with breadcrumbs floating in it.

"..."

Reluctantly, Neon ate a spoonful.

"..."

"...So? How is it?" Inker asked

"Not bad actually, it's better than eating everything separate that's for sure."

"Huh, let me try then."

After a brief struggle, Inker broke his hardtack in two as well, like Neon he grinded the two pieces together and let the crumbs fall into his porridge.

Reluctantly he took a bite as well.

"So?" Neon asked

"You're right, it's not that bad."

"Alright! That solves our food issue!"

Even in these conditions, Neon remained cheerful.

Inker wondered where she got all that positive energy from.

As Neon threw a fist into the air, the Octarians around them all looked over with curiosity.

"? what?" Neon made a confused face upon seeing that almost the entire room was now looking at her.

The Octarians returned to their meals, leaving Neon to wonder why they had all looked at her.

Inker amused, laughed bit.

"What?"

"Oh nothing."

"Tell me! What's so funny."

"Nothing forget about it."

"Tell meeeeee!"

As Neon shook Inker, some other Octarians commented on the strange sight.

They knew who Agent 3 was and wanted nothing to do with him, but who was the girl he brought along?

A friend? A sibling? A lover? An agent?

The only one who knew was Victoria, who was seated with Lynn and many other Octarians across the room.

Like the other Octarians, Victoria was used to eating the rationed foods, so she had no problem with her jerky, hardtack and porridge.

Hearing the Octarians talk about Neon, Victoria joined in.

"That's Neon." Victoria told the other Octarians at her table.

"What's Neon?" an Octoling wondered

"The Inkling girl's name, its Neon. She's a friend of Agent 3."

"Really? Huh, strange name."

Victoria nodded in agreement.

Even though she knew Agent 3 personally and had been living in Inkopolis for a while, the other Octarians did not dislike Victoria, in fact she was treated just like how any other Octoling would be treated.

"Why is she here in the first place? Is she a new agent of the New Squidbeak splatoon?" An Octotrooper asked.

Another shuddered "She's more than just that, that girl is a monster."

"What are you talking about?" Lynn asked the shivering Octotrooper.

"At Melanin prison… That girl transformed into a huge squid and literally crushed a dozen of us."

He had probably mistaken Neon's Kraken special to be her actual squid form

The Octotrooper shuddered has he recalled Neon diving into their ranks in Kraken form, causing mass panic amongst the Melanin prison guards.

Of course, nobody here knew what a Kraken was, and so nobody believed him.

"That's impossible, i've never heard of an Inkling possessing an ability like that." an Octoling laughed

"Yeah, Neon has a weird personality, but she's just a normal Inkling." Victoria added

"Could it be because you are small, so she seemed big to you in squid form?" Lynn wondered

"Oh it's true.."

Lynn, Victoria and the others turned and saw their captain standing there, having just arrived and overheard their conversation.

"!"

The Octarians immediately stood up, saluting the captain, while Inker and Neon wondered what was happening, Neon even stood up just for fun.

"As you were." the captain said

The Octarians and Neon all sat back down.

"Well then, I hope you don't mind if I join you." Captain Vale said, taking a seat next to Lynn and Victoria.

"Ahh, no problem captain." Lynn said, making a bit of room for her commanding officer.

"Well now, back to the topic of that girl's squid form." Captain Vale gestured at Neon.

"It's true I tell you, I saw it myself!" the Octotrooper exclaimed

"And I believe you, I saw the recordings from the goggles of the Octolings she splatted." The captain continued, turning to Lynn "you remember Madison right? She was splatted by that green Inkling when she transformed into a seemingly invulnerable giant squid form."

"So, what he says is true?" Victoria asked

"I told you, we have two very dangerous Inklings amongst us."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, other Octolings also spotted her with a normal squid form, it seems that her giant squid form can only be used for short bursts of time. It seems more like some kind of weapon rather than a natural ability."

"Weapon? So you are saying if one of us were to use her gear, we could transform like that too?" One of the Octolings appeared very interested in the Kraken special.

"Who knows? The Inklings have some very different and strange weapons, along with strange personalities, names and beliefs. We are very different from them. It's good to plan for the future, so we should try and learn as much about them as we can, so that we will be better prepared for when we eventually attack Inkopolis."

Attacking Inkopolis…. it's been a while since Victoria last heard about that.

"Captain, why do you insist on being enemies with the Inklings, they really aren't that bad you know."

Looking at Victoria, the captain guessed that her time in Inkopolis may have affected her judgement, they were friendly at the moment, but the captain believed that ultimately the Inklings were still their enemy.

"Ahh, our new recruit, Victoria Holter. I've heard that you've been to Inkopolis several times now, you've even made some friends over there. But remember not to let your emotions cloud your judgement or you may end up making a fatal mistake. Your mother taught me that."

"My mother? You knew her?"

"I fought alongside her during the Salmonid war, she had been called back to active duty despite retiring early to take care of you. I was a recruit at the time, I learned alot from her."

"Huh, I never knew my mother that well. Is that why you wanted me to join you? Are you expecting me to be just like her?"

"I just need all the help I can get at the moment. I figured we aren't too different so we should stand together."

"Hmm." Victoria looked over at Inker and Neon, talking among themselves. "And what about them? Why did you agree to bring them along if you only see them as enemies?"

The captain wondered as well.

On one hand, Agent 3 has proven himself to be an incredibly strong soldier in the past, so he may be useful here and could compensate for their fewer numbers.

On the other hand he was Agent 3, he splatted entire battalions worth of Octarians in the past and took out the great Octoweapons and even DJ Octavio's Octobot King, all to take the Zapfish back to a race that didn't deserve it, he could not be easily forgiven.

"He could be a useful tool, but that doesn't mean he isn't an enemy."

"He doesn't have to be an enemy you know. He said it himself that he doesn't want to fight us if he doesn't need to."

"And you believe that?"

"Not at first."

The captain looked over at Inker.

Right now he was talking with the strange Inkling girl and laughing.

'_If he really doesn't want to fight, then he wouldn't have wanted to come here in the first place.'_

The captain decided to keep an eye on Inker over the next few days.

"Even if he doesn't want to fight, him being a part of the New Squidbeak splatoon puts him in our crosshairs."

Victoria glanced at the captain

"Are you saying your going to splat him sometime?"

"Yes, preferably when this is all over."

Now Victoria had a huge look of suspicion on her face.

"You don't trust him at all, yet you trust me enough to tell me this. What's stopping me from telling Inker about it?"

"Nothing, that's the point, trust is important if you are going to be a member of my splatoon. If you have any doubts about our goals, then leave, I won't stop you, it's a simple as that."

Victoria noticed that Lynn and the other Octarians nearby nodded when they heard that.

"The captain has always been that way." Lynn explained "With her, you always know where you stand, she doesn't hide anything from us and cares for our well being. She also won't hold grudges against you if you did something like making deals with Inklings."

'_Interesting.' _Victoria thought "But how can you trust Inker if you are constantly making an enemy out of him?"

"I never said he was part of my splatoon." the captain replied.

'_Yet I am? Strange, why is it that she can't tolerate Inklings, but she'll trust an Octoling she's just met? She even knows that I led Inker and the others to Melanin prison, yet she's still trusting me so easily.'_

Victoria watched her new captain, she had previously only heard of her exploits during the Salmonid war, to think that she would be such a strange character.

But if she was planning to backstabbing Inker in the end, then Victoria wouldn't stand by.

Once dinner was over, the splatoon had some time to themselves.

Inker and Neon had retired to the room meant for them.

They had to rely on memory to get around, since they couldn't read any of the signs.

As for why they went back to their room..

"Hey guys, how's everything?" Came Sky's voice through the hero headsets Inker and neon were wearing.

Sky and Cuttlefish were checking in on them. Inker felt that speaking to mission control while in plain sight would draw even more suspicion towards him and Neon, so they had to return to their room before speaking.

Before Inker could say anything though, Neon cut in.

"Sky! You should be glad you didn't come here. The food is bad, the rooms are bad, the company is bad and the showers are just buckets of Magenta ink! I can't even use that!"

"What else did you expect going into Octo Valley with a bunch of wanted Octarians?" was Sky's response.

"Well for one I thought there would be a large scale turf war…."

"Seriously…"

Then came Cuttlefish's voice.

"Agent 3! You haven't ran into any trouble have you? Let me know if that Captain Vale starts mistreating ya."

"Oh no it's fine, at least for now. The Octarians here aren't too fond of me."

"How about Victoria?" Sky asked

"She seems to be getting along with the others perfectly."

"Yeah! She's forgotten all about us the moment we arrived!" Neon exclaimed

"No she didn't, she's probably just getting to know everyone else first."

"Hmm okay, it's a shame everyone here is so unfriendly. Oh! If I splat lots of enemies during a battle, do you think they'll like me more?"

"Considering the "enemies" down there are other Octarians, I think they would end up staying further away from you." Sky said.

"Waaaa, you're so mean Sky. Alright! Tomorrow I'm going to try speaking with some of the Octarians!"

"Good idea, just keep in mind that only the Octolings speak the Universal language while all the others speak Octarian."

"Oh? Do you think you could learn Octarian and teach me?" Sky seemed curious, he probably wanted to learn that language.

As for Neon she had no idea what the different Octarian species were.

"Oh there you are."

Victoria was at the door.

"Victoria! You didn't forget about us!" Neon yelled

"Why would I forget about you two? Anyways quiet down, this is important."

"Okie..."

Victoria shut the door behind her and sat close to Inker and Neon, talking in a quiet voice.

"It's not safe for you two to be here, Captain Vale is planning on splatting you once she's done with Octavia."

Inker wasn't surprised in the slightest.

"I was expecting that."

'You did? Then why did you come with me?"

"Well to be honest, I wouldn't have come if Neon didn't jump in."

"Huh!? So its my fault again?" Neon stammered

"Don't worry about it. Anyways is it really okay for you to be telling us this Victoria?"

"Would you have preferred not to know about the captain's plan?"

"Didn't I say I expected it already? It's obvious that Captain Vale is planning on getting rid of me once i'm not useful anymore, I thought that maybe with some time, Vale could learn not to hate us Inklings, just as you have."

'_Of course Inker would try something like that.'_ Victoria thought

"But unlike me, Vale an Elite Octoling, she's loyally bound to Octavio and our race."

"Octavio huh…. Do you think she'll try and free him?"

"I'm certain she will, once Octavia is gone, there will be nobody left to be our leader, so naturally all focus would go towards freeing Octavio. The only reason why nobody has tried to free Octavio so far is because Octavia is here." Victoria was certain that it was the case.

Inker pondered for a moment

He had gone through alot to get back the Great Zapfish and capture Octavio.

So much senseless violence to stop the actions of one Octarian leader.

He didn't think this little group of rebelling Octarians would still be loyal to Octavio.

Who was worse? Octavio or Octavia?

One stole Inkopolis' main power supply, the other squidnapped and splatted many Inklings.

'_Tough choice, but wouldn't Octavio be less of a threat?'_

"Well then, I need to head off before anyone notices me. Tomorrow i'll be assigned some base duties so I probably won't have as much time to talk. Right now however, everyone else should be gathered in their rooms or the main room. You should come as well, maybe if you make a few friends here you'd lessen the chance of being shot in the back."

"You say that, but i'm Agent 3 and these are Octarian soldiers. It was hard enough convincing you that I meant no harm back then, now there's an entire splatoon of Octarians."

"Well you should try at least, oh and I suggest you both get used to sleeping early and waking up early. Technically you're soldiers now."

With that, Victoria left.

"Wait I need to get up early too?!" Neon complained

"Looks like this isn't turning out to be the fun trip you had in mind."

"Oh shut up….. I know! I'll follow Victoria to where the other Octarians are. I'm no Agent so they'll be more friendly with me right?!"

"We won't know until you give it a shot."

"Alright!"

Neon ran off.

"I feel bad for you Inker." came Sky's voice "Being stuck babysitting a troublesome girl like her."

"Hey!"

Neon came running back into the room, grabbing Inker.

"Where's the camera!" she said, searching Inker's Hero Suit with her eyes.

"Umm right here." Inker pointed to the hidden camera on his Hero suit.

"Sky look here! I'm wearing my Hero headset too! Don't think you can say things behind my back!" Neon yelled into Inker's hidden camera, pointing at her headset.

Sky was busted "Sorry about that..."

Neon satisfied, grinned and ran off again.

"Hahaha, you gotta give Neon some credit though, at least she made sure to wear the hero headset and hasn't splatted anyone yet. Not even when someone shot me out of spite. She's doing better than before."

"I guess."

"Well anyways I'm going silent now. It will be hard to earn the trust of these Octarians if i'm constantly speaking to someone else through my headset. Talk to you later."

"Alright, good luck!"

By the time Inker made it to the main room, Neon was already there and trying to make conversation.

* * *

The main room was large and empty, if they weren't training, the Octarians could do pretty much anything they could think of here. It was like a courtyard but underground in an already underground city.

There was a group of Octolings and an Octoball on one side, standing in front of a net made of rope. Neon ran up to them.

"Hiya!"

"What do you want Inkling?" one Octoling replied

"Oh i'm getting to know everyone! I'm Neon! Nice to meetcha!"

Neon stuck a hand out to the Octoling, but she just snorted and ignored her.

"Okay the teams are ready? Let's play."

The Octolings split up into two groups, one on each side drew some lines into the ground using a small piece of chalk.

Once that was done, they took positions and one picked up the Octoball.

"Ready? Here it comes!" The Octoling tossed the Octoball up into the air and smacked it over to the other group.

They were playing volleyball with an Octoball.

Even though she was straight up ignored, Neon stood by watching as the Octolings send the Octoball back and forth.

Finally one Octoling smashed the Octoball over the net, another dived trying to send it back but failed.

"1-0"

The Octoball bounced away, after a brief struggle it rolled back onto its feet coming face to face with Neon, who had crouched beside it with curiosity.

"That looks like fun! but doesn't it hurt being a ball?" Neon asked the Octoball by her feet.

The Octoball replied in a language Neon could not understand.

"?"

"He said, mind your own business!" an Octoling shouted

Neon looked back at the Octoball, seeking confirmation, however the Octoball had already rolled back into the hands of another Octoling.

"Come on guys! Don't ignore me! I can play too! Come on, put me in the game! I'll prove it to you!"

"We already have equal teams, go pester someone else."

"Aww."

Neon left with a dejected face, but perked up again about two seconds later.

She went over to a group of Octotroopers.

One of them had jury rigged one of their hovercrafts to move around randomly on their own.

Two dozen others tried to hit it with the weapons on their own hovercrafts.

Neon went over to the one Octotrooper without a hovercraft.

"Hiya! I'm Neon! What's your name?"

The Octotrooper did not understand Neon, he looked up at Neon in confusion, replying in a language Neon could not understand.

Neon tilted her head "Hmm? I don't understand you, or is that your name?"

The Octotrooper said something else Neon didn't understand.

"You know, my friend Sky wanted to learn that language someday. He might be dull and boring but I think it would be useful at this point."

The Octotrooper, not understanding a word Neon was saying, looked back at his fellow Octotroopers firing at the unmanned hovercraft.

Neon followed his gaze

"Oh! I see! That's target practice right! My aim is perfect! Watch this!"

Neon pulled out her E-Liter 3K custom and ran towards the group of Octotroopers and the unmanned hovercraft.

With a loud BANG, Neon sniped the unmanned hovercraft.

Her fully charged E-Liter shot was enough to knock it over and leave a long trail of green ink on the ground.

It also scared the daylights out of all the Octotroopers already shooting at it.

"Woomy!" Neon cheered.

She couldn't celebrate for long though, because her loud E-Liter had drawn the attention of everyone in the room, Neon was immediately surrounded by half a dozen Octolings.

"What are you doing you stupid Inkling! Firing a weapon like that here? You could have splatted someone!" One Octoling yelled at Neon.

"Hmm? No way, I made sure nobody was in the way, see!" Neon pointed at how the shot had stopped before it reached any of the Octotroopers.

The direction she had fired from had no Octotrooper between her and the hovercraft as well, so there was no way she would have hit anyone if she missed.

Despite that, the Octolings didn't let her go.

"No weapons of different colours here! Give me that!" another Octoling said, grabbing Neon's E-Liter 3K.

"No! Hey! Stop that! That's mine!"

As Neon struggled to pull her E-Liter back, another Octoling grabbed her arm.

"Come on! Grab her! Pin her down before she does anything else!"

"Ow that hurts! Stop that!"

The six Octolings were all over Neon, pulling, pushing and grabbing her while one tried to take the E-Liter from her hands.

Neon struggled to hold on to her precious E-Liter, she tried her best to shake away the Octolings.

Getting fed up with the Octoling trying to take her E-Liter, Neon kicked the Octoling really hard in the shin

"OW!"

As the Octoling grasped her knee, Neon yanked her E-Liter back and transformed, leaping away from the other Octolings.

The six Octolings went after Neon again, this time with Octoshots drawn.

They covered turf as they made their way towards Neon, backing her against a wall.

"Drop that weapon or we will open fire!" One of them shouted at Neon.

Neon however, just giggled.

She always made sure to charge her special before entering Octo Valley, since there was o rule saying that you had to enter with your special gauge empty.

Neon turned into Kraken form.

"?!"

The Octolings, who had just seen her in a normal squid form, were shocked by the size of Neon's new form.

Neon swam slowly towards the Octolings, they opened fire on her to no effect.

"Hey! All of you! Stop it! Cease fire immediately!"

Captain Vale had appeared, along with possibly everyone else in the lair, drawn to all the racket.

Noticing her, the Octolings stopped shooting at Neon.

Neon stopped as well, her Kraken form expiring a second later just as Inker arrived.

"What's going on here Neon?"

All Inker saw was six Octolings, Neon coming out of Kraken form, as well as bright magenta and green Ink all over the place.

He took a guess as to what happened.

As for the captain, she was just about to lecture the Octolings when Inker showed up.

He lowered his head in apology "I'm sorry for the trouble my friend has caused."

"Hey hold on! Why do you assume I did something wrong?" Neon exclaimed

"Maybe because I heard you shoot your E-liter and now there's ink everywhere." Inker turned back to the captain "I'm really sorry for whatever Neon has done."

Neon grabbed Inker's shoulders and shook him with extreme vigor.

"Stop apologizing! I did nothing wrong!"

"Then why were you chasing around a bunch of Octolings in Kraken form? Why do you even have Kraken fully charged?"

"It pays to be prepared so I always make sure to charge my special before coming to Octo Valley. Besides I wasn't trying to splat them or anything, they cornered me with their shooters so I just tried to scare them off."

Now Inker was somewhat convinced that Neon wasn't to blame.

"Huh, well... Why were they chasing you in the first place?"

"That idiot was firing her weapon near some Octotroopers!" came the voice of the Octoling who was kicked in the shin.

"Neon…"

"Yeah! But they were in no danger, I made sure nobody was in the way so that even if I do miss nobody would get hurt. Besides you should know that when it comes to aim, my aim is perfect!"

Inker agreed

"True, other things aside, your skill with a Charger really is first class."

"Did you just say "other things aside"?"

"Not at all. Regardless you scared everyone with your E-Liter, so you should probably apologize."

"I was not scared!" one Octoling shouted

"Yeah, none of us were! Why would we be scared by some random Inkling with a weapon? It's just dangerous to be firing weapons of different ink colours outside of the firing range!"

"Hmm? Do your spawn points not reach this room or something?" Neon wondered

"Spawn points?"

"Neon come with me for a second." Inker said, taking Neon out of the room.

* * *

Inker took Neon to a more secluded hallway, where they wouldn't likely be overheard.

"What's up?"

"Neon look around you, Octo Valley is not Inkopolis, do you think they could afford something like respawn points?"

"? I thought respawn points were for everyone. Every city I've ever been too has had spawn points constructed in dangerous areas."

"Well not here, if you get splatted in Octo Valley its permanent, for us and for them."

Neon gasped, bringing her hands to her cheeks

"That's horrible! Wait so all the Octarians we splatted before don't respawn?"

"You thought they did?"

"Yeah! There were so many of them so I thought they were respawning somewhere nearby!"

Neon seemed to be in shock.

Inker sighed

"Now you see why I hate having to fight the Octarians?"

Neon nodded "Yeah yeah! Totally, why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"Neon, everyone else knew, I thought you did too. In fact I thought I mentioned it before."

"Huh? Everyone knew? Well then we should head back to Inkopolis now."

Neon had completely changed her mind.

"Wow that was unexpected, I thought for sure you already knew and kept on splatting Octarians because you found it fun."

"I've been meaning to ask this for a while now, but what do you think I am? I'm not some monster who would permanently splat others for fun."

"You're right, well if you want to head back to Inkopolis then you should go, I think i'll stay here for a while."

"Huh? Why? Didn't you say the reason you came in the first place was because of me?"

Sure Inker didn't want to fight if it was unnecessary, but he also wanted to convince the Octarians that they didn't have to be his enemy.

If anything, being accepted into Captain Vale's splatoon was a rare chance to convince more than just Victoria.

"I'm going to stay and try to befriend the Octarians here. With a little luck, we won't have to fight each other in the future."

Since he was already here, he may as well take a shot at it.

"Really? But they even shot you earlier, that's gotta be the biggest sign saying "I don't want to talk to you"."

"At first, Victoria didn't want anything to do with me and Kal, but now she's not only our friend, but she even helped us rescue Kal and Lila. I think we shouldn't be quick to shoot down the idea that maybe, with enough time, we can convince these Octarians that we aren't their enemy."

"Wow, even with the bad food, bad bed and bad living conditions in general you're going to stay?"

"Yep." Inker's answer was as quick as could be.

Neon smiled, once again pumping a fist into the air.

"Alright then so am I! But i'm going to turn in early today, I have a lot to think about."

"Huh, that doesn't sound like you."

"Once again, what do you think I am? Even I get troubled okay! I thought that maybe if I bragged about fighting at Melanin prison I could show my skill and get along with some of the Octarians. But now I know that they don't respawn so I need to think of other things to talk about."

"You were planning on saying what?! You realize these Octarians were the ones guarding Melanin prison right? The ones that survived at least."

"Ehhh!? Whoa! Thank goodness I didn't manage to brag about breaking Kal out of jail."

It seems that Neon was still unaware of many things.

"Well like I said i'm going to turn in early. Victoria did say we have to get used to it. Let's try our best to get along with the Octarians tomorrow!"

Neon was full of enthusiasm.

"Alright you go on ahead, I think i'll go speak to Lynn or Captain Vale and try to find out what we'll be doing in the upcoming days."

"Okay! Good night Inker!"

Inker watched as Neon skipped away to their room.

'_How does she manage to stay cheerful and positive even though she just found out that she basically killed dozens of Octarians? When I first found out that they didn't respawn I couldn't stop worrying and wondering if I was really the bad guy here.'_

Inker started to wonder, but there were other things to worry about.

'_Victoria mentioned base duties, I have no idea what that is but I bet Vale has something in store for me and Neon.'_

If it was something dangerous could he refuse?

He'd have to wait till tomorrow to find out.


	28. A Day In Army Life

**Guerilla camp, Octo Valley**

Inker couldn't sleep.

Sure there was a lot on his mind: what are base duties? How do Octarians train? Would he be safe in this lair full of Octarians who had no reason to trust him?

That would already be enough to keep anyone awake, the mystery of tomorrow and the slight fear of being attacked in your sleep.

But that wasn't the reason here…

"Urfff… Haha…. The tenth time…. Not going back to Nippon!... Not Cherie… Chargers are the way to go….. Fight me!"

Neon, who fell asleep surprisingly fast for a bundle of energy, talked a lot in her sleep, as Inker just found out.

"This is great!... Move here… by myself."

He wasn't sure what to make of it either, it was probably some nonsense going through her mind about Chargers and turf wars.

"So much praise!... Love this place!... Better than that island."

Inker groaned and rolled over, facing away from Neon's bunk and covering his ears with his pillow.

'_Oh come on! You are noisy enough when you are awake, why do you have to talk so much in your sleep!?'_

Inker made sure to ask Lynn or Captain Vale for a separate room as soon as possible.

Every few minutes or so Neon would go quiet, but just as Inker was drifting to sleep she would mutter something else.

"...I don't wanna learn business!..."

'_At this point I might as well leave and sleep outside.'_

As he was thinking that, Inker noticed a bit of light sweep across the room accompanied by a slight squeaking sound.

Someone had opened the door..

He didn't turn around, but looking at the wall he could see the shadow of someone entering the room.

The figure stood wordlessly for a moment.

Inker wanted to turn around and see who it was, but didn't.

Meanwhile Neon kept sleep talking.

"...It's what I like!... All I can do is!... Cherie is too….."

The figure was startled, Inker could see its shadow twist as the figure turned to check Neon.

She slept ungracefully, not only did she talk in her sleep while tossing and turning, but she also randomly changed forms in her sleep.

"...Leave me… If you want to…. Let me live on my…"

Believing that Neon was harmless, the figure approached Inker's bunk.

Inker was wide awake again, if this unexpected visitor tried something he would have to move on a moment's notice.

Inker observed the shadow on the wall, the figure raised an arm and was holding something.

An Octoshot? A Splat bomb?

Inker stealthily and slowly moved his leg under his blanket, positioning himself to deliver a swift kick should he be attacked.

The figure stood there for a moment, Inker didn't know who it was, but judging from the shadow it was an Octoling.

After a brief pause the figure lowered whatever it was holding

"Soon…. You deserve this, but not now…."

"Hmm?! Is that you Inker!?" Came Neon's voice

Apparently the Octoling's voice was enough to instantly wake Neon.

"!"

The figure beat a hasty retreat, quietly dashing out of the room.

"Hmm? Who was that?" Inker heard Neon mutter.

'_Why was she so easily woken up? Wait! If she's awake then it will be a while before she falls back to sleep! Alright I have to fall asleep before she starts sleep talking again!'_

Determined to get some rest, Inker did his best not to think about what just happened and fall asleep before Neon.

* * *

6 AM, time for everyone to wake up.

The Octarians were used to getting up at this time, but for Inker and Neon, they predictably did not wake up by themselves.

A few Octolings had the solution for that.

"WAKE UP!"

The moment the clock reached 6:01, two Octolings kicked their way into Inker and Neon's room, leapt onto their beds, landing on the two in the process and proceeded to slap them awake.

It wasn't a soft wake up slap either, there was a lot of hate behind their hands.

'Smack smack smack'

Inker and Neon immediately woke up and began flailing around.

"Ow ow ow!"

"Hey! get off me!"

Satisfied, the Octolings left, leaving Inker and Neon to rub their cheeks in pain.

"Ouch, what kind of a wake up call was that?" Inker grumbled.

"Wahh! I miss Inkopolis!" Neon shouted

As he sat up, Inker felt somewhat dizzy.

Probably since he didn't get to sleep for half the night thanks to Neon's sleep talking.

Neon however showed no signs of fatigue, she was already fully awake and really for the day.

She looked and laughed at Inker's face, which now had red handprints on both sides.

"Hahaha!"

Ignoring Neon, Inker closed his eyes and sat for a while, prompting Neon to wonder what was up.

"Hey Inker what's wrong? Didn't sleep well!?"

"Who's fault do you think that is?"

"Huh?"

"Did you know that you talk a lot even in your sleep?"

"Ehhh!? What?"

"I'm not blaming you, but I couldn't sleep last night because you kept sleep talking. Mumbling things about Chargers, turf wars, and islands."

"Oh, well then maybe you should nap a bit more?"

"So those Octolings have an excuse to slap me again? No thanks, let's just go for breakfast, hopefully it's not was bad as yesterday's dinner."

It was…

As Inker and Neon once again found themselves sitting alone at their own table, attracting death glares from the Octarians around them. They glanced down on today's breakfast.

Rationed butter, hardtack and powdered milk mixed with water.

"I miss eggs and bakey." Neon muttered

"We've only been here for a day and you are already missing home?"

"How can I not? The whole reason why I moved to Inkopolis was because I loved that place!"

"Like I said you don't have to stay here, I can handle it on my own."

"You also said there would be a battle soon, so i'm staying until I see one!"

Inker laughed "Alright suit yourself."

"..."

Something felt cold on the side of Inker's leg.

"?"

When Inker looked, he saw a large nail sticking out of the bench right beside him.

He and Neon had been seated in the same place as yesterday, so someone probably hammered it into the bench with the intention of spiking Inker with it.

If he had sat a few inches more to the right, it would have been a painful experince.

Inker got up and used the unbelievably tough hardtack to help remove the nail.

"Dammit!" Inker heard someone's voice.

It came from a familiar Octoling, she immediately averted her gaze once Inker looked in her direction.

Inker was sure that it was the same Octoling who shot him yesterday, maybe even the same one who was thinking of attacking him last night.

He made sure to remember her face and have a talk with her later.

After breakfast the Octarians all seemed to know their schedule and left in different directions, leaving Inker and Neon to wonder what they were supposed to be doing.

As the Octarians were leaving Inker scanned the crowd for the one Octoling who had a ponytail.

"Hey Lynn!"

Lynn, who was heading off somewhere, stopped as soon as she heard Inker's voice.

"Yes! What do you need Agent 3?" Just like with the captain, Lynn was obedient around Inker

"Well first off, what are we supposed to do now? Do we just hang around until Captain Vale has something for us?"

"I guess so. I'm sorry but the captain didn't have anything planned for you so I guess you should train like the rest of us."

"Training?"

"Yes, if you aren't doing base duties or fighting, you train. That's a motto of ours: Fight like you train and train like you fight."

"Ohh! That sounds cool! Train like you fight and fight like you train! I'm going to say that from now on!" Neon chimed in, having taken a liking to their motto.

"So do we just go around doing physical exercise or something?" Inker asked

"Yes it's all up to you, there is a weight room, a firing range and a sparring room too, also the main room is probably being used for jogging. Do what you like to pass the time, just try not to get in anyone's way."

"Alright thanks."

"You go head Inker, I want to say something to her first." Neon said, looking at Lynn.

"?"

After learning that the Octarians couldn't respawn she felt the need to apologize for splatting so many of them in the past.

She obviously couldn't go up and apologize to the other Octarians, but since Lynn seemed okay with Inker, Neon decided to talk to her first.

With no reason to pry into Neon's intentions, Inker left.

"So Lynn, you guys were the guards at Melanin prison right?"

"Hmm? Ah y-yes!" Lynn sounded a bit nervous.

Neon clasped her hands together

"I'm sorry for splatting so many of your fellow guards!"

"Ehh?! N-no need to apologize, seriously there's no need."

"Huh? But I splatted so many of your back then. You don't hate me for splatting your friends?"

"Well umm, they weren't really my friends, the only guards I really knew were Claire and Madison, but they are gone now."

"I'm sorry for splatting Madison and Claire!"

"Seriously you can stop apologizing! And you only splatted Madison and not Claire! Besides we are just fodder, so it's normal for us to be splatted."

That last part of Lynn's sentence sounded off

"Just fodder? But they got splatted right? They won't ever come back."

"Yes but that's normal around here, sure it's sad that Madison and Claire are gone but it could have easily been me instead of one of them. Actually I still think that it would have been better of Claire was here instead of me…"

Lynn's shoulders drooped, she started to look sad

"Hey come on now, your life is important you know."

"Not really, you don't have to worry about a low ranking Octoling like me, but I guess that's just the difference between Inklings and Octarians."

"Still have a bit more confidence in yourself!"

"Yeah I guess, sure ma'am."

"Ma'am? Seriously? What's with that? My name is Neon." Neon laughed at the thought of being called "ma'am"

"Yes but you seem close with Agent 3, so I assume you would likely be higher ranked than me… Though I don't know where "Agent" would go on the military hierarchy."

"Don't worry about that, just call me by my name. Besides…" Neon glanced and Lynn's chest and concluded: "You are probably older than me."

"Huh?! Does ma'am lean that way?"

"Seriously you don't have to call me that."

Lynn started wondering what else she could call Neon "Would you prefer Agent? Madam? Mistress?... Umm maybe if you have certain preferences I could call you sir?"

"What no! For the record i'm not like that, anyways I'm not even part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon! I'm just Neon! Your average 16 year old girl! Besides, being called ma'am makes me feel old. So just call me Neon."

"Ahh! Sorry, I can do Neon, I-I mean I can call you Neon from now on."

It was strange seeing Lynn act nervous and address her by a title, so Neon assumed it was because she almost shot her when she showed up at Cuttlefish's shack.

"Hey if you're worried I'll splat you, don't be, that one time at Cuttlefish's shack was a misunderstanding kay?"

Neon offered a friendly smile.

"Ahh d-don't worry, it wasn't the first time I was welcomed like that, honestly I should have expected it."

"Good! So you don't have to be afraid of me! Let's be friends then!" Neon extended a hand towards Lynn.

"Friends?! Umm you aren't planning on asking me to do something unreasonable under the guise that friends should help each other out right?"

"I'm just trying to make some friends here 'kay? No need to be suspicious."

Lynn fidgeted about "But umm, my loyalty is to the captain and you are an Inkling… Although I do owe Agent 3 a favor, I'm not sure if its a good idea for us to be friends, since we may end up fighting each other in the future…."

"Hey don't think that much about it, you'll always regret something sooner or later, so just do what you want now! I won't ask for anything of you, so don't worry about a thing! And if someday we do end up fighting each other, I'll go easy on you!" Neon said proudly, still extending a hand to Lynn.

"Ahh, sorry for worrying so much, I'm just not used to making my own decisions…. You know, you kinda remind me of Claire in a way… Sure let's be friends."

Neon smiled

Maybe if she was friendly enough with Lynn, the other Octarians would stop being so cold.

Meanwhile Inker seeked out the Octoling from earlier.

It was indeed the same Octoling who shot him when he first arrived: the one named Eliza, who had a talk with the captain the day before.

Although she agreed to work with Agent 3, that didn't mean she had to make his life easy.

She was busy taking inventory, making a list of all usable weapons and remaining rations when she noticed Agent 3.

"Unless you have something important to say, leave me alone." Eliza said, keep her back towards Agent 3

"You don't like me very much, do you?" Inker asked

"Gee, whatever gave you that impression..." Despite her sarcasm, Eliza continued to take inventory.

Inker had more to say

"You were the one who shot me yesterday right? You were also the one who put that nail in my seat."

Eliza turned around, she held a notepad in one hand, her other hand went for the Octoshot on her waist "Yeah, what about it?"

Inker continued "Last night, someone came into my room and held a weapon at me, before getting startled by Neon. Could that have also been you?"

"And what if it was?"

"..."

Eliza didn't have her goggles on, so Inker could see the cold expression in her eyes.

She must really hate him.

"I get that you don't want to work with me, the one who took back all the Zapfish, but could you save the hostilities for when we aren't working together?"

'_He thinks the just the zapfish I care about.'_

Eliza tightened her grip on her Octoshot in anger.

"Do you remember the Octoling named Eileen?"

"Huh? Should I?"

Inker didn't recall who that was, though the name was familiar.

That only made things worse.

Eliza nearly snapped her notepad

"She was one of the Octolings at the Kelp Dome! One of the first Octolings you encountered! The least you could do was remember her name!"

It was an absolutely unreasonable request

"How am I supposed to know the names of every Octarian? Besides there were umm..."

Inker couldn't even recall how many Octolings he fought in the kelp dome.

'_Was it 5? No there was probably more, somewhere between five and ten... I think….'_

This pissed off Eliza even further.

"Ohh I see, so if you splat a lot of us, we become a statistic rather than individuals. You disgust me."

"Hey, in the first place, it's normal for one to get splatted if two enemies meet on the battlefield."

"Oh? Then that means one of us won't be leaving this room!" Eliza drew her Octoshot, firing a burst at Inker.

Inker quickly leapt back.

"I'm not fighting here."

"You are right, you can't fight here. After all if i'm splatted, the rest of the splatoon will take you down before you can explain. Nobody would trust Agent 3 after all."

Inker hastily avoided another barrage of ink.

He could beat this Octoling no problem, but if he did there would definitely be a misunderstanding, he would ruin whatever chance he had at convincing this splatoon that they didn't have to remain enemies.

Dodging ink, Inker sent a Seeker towards the door, then swam out of the room.

"Well then, you better make sure I don't get away, otherwise Captain Vale might find out what happened here." Inker taunted

'_She won't make a scene and chase me through the lair right?'_

Inker left, already regretting that taunt, he was caught in the mood of battle and said it without thinking.

It didn't help his goal of befriending the Octarians here.

That being said, he had no reason to go to Captain Vale about this incident, he wasn't hurt after all.

Inker looked back and thought about the name Eliza had mentioned.

'_Eileen… now that I think about it, that name did seem familiar...'_

Regardless of who that was, it was clear to Inker that the specific Octoling he just met held a grudge.

She wouldn't be very easy to approach.

* * *

**Fields family household, Inkopolis**

"Laven... Laven are you awake?"

Kal awoke to Lila calling him a name that wasn't even his.

"Good morning Lila, is something the matter?."

After thoroughly washing the blankets and bedsheets Kal was okay with sleeping in Laven's room, although he still found it weird, he endured it as it was necessary to save Lila from the pain everytime he did something out of character.

Lila smiled

"Deep called….."

Lila stopped mid sentence, her smiled being quickly replaced with a sad expression.

"…. Huh I forgot what he said."

"Hey don't worry, if it was important you wouldn't have forgotten." Kal said, with a comforting tone.

Although he knew what this meant

Whoever "Deep" was, probably called to talk about the Vanguard movement.

'_Knowing Lila's condition, she probably hung up the moment "Vanguard" was mentioned. That would explain why she's claiming not to know what he said.'_

If someone was calling about the Vanguard movement, then that probably meant their second wave was preparing to move on Octo Valley.

'_What a bunch of idiots, so many of them have already gotten killed, yet they are still going to attack again.'_

Though for Kal the bigger problem would be Lila, she was already pushing away reality, not accepting that the Vanguard movement even existed in the first place.

If the Vanguard movement members started showing up to try and bring her back into the fold, it wouldn't be good.

"Laven, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, i'm just wondering if errr… Deep will show up again." Kal almost forgot Deep's name for a second there.

"Why are you making a face as if you just answered a hard question?"

"You can tell huh..."

Lila was getting sharper around Kal.

He would have to mention that to Dr Asio the next time to saw her.

"Well that aside, you didn't have breakfast without your big brother did you?" Kal did his best Laven act.

"Of course not!"

Kal and Lila had a good balanced breakfast, it wasn't until later on that trouble showed up in the form of two Inklings.

When the doorbell rang Lila answered instead of Kal, since technically he wasn't supposed to be here in the first place and didn't want to run into an acquaintance of Laven.

"Hello Lila!"

Two Inklings were at the door, one was a tall green Inkling with his hair swept back and a roller slung across his back and the other was a pink, dark skinned and strong looking Inkling with the common ponytail hairstyle for Inkling boys.

They were Laven's friends, as well as members of the Vanguard movement. The green one was named Deep and the pink one was named Aurip.

"Hi Deep, hi Aurip, are you looking for Laven?"

Unfortunately to Lila, everything was still normal, so she talked as if Laven was still alive and with them.

Deep and Aurip looked at each other, both visibly confused.

"Umm Lila? Isn't Laven well…. you know…."

"Hmm? What do I know? Laven is here, I'll go get him."

Deep and Aurip watched Lila run upstairs.

"Come on Laven! Stop struggling, Deep and Aurip are here." they heard Lila say

"No wait Lila, I don't think I should go." came an unfamiliar voice to them.

Something was wrong.

Since they were familiar enough to Laven and his family, Deep and Aurip let themselves into the house.

"Lila? Is everything alright?" Deep called

"Laven is being stubborn!"

Then they saw Lila pulling on the arm of someone they had never seen before.

"Who the hell are you!?" Aurip shouted, pointing at Kal who was dressed like Laven.

"I'm uhh." Kal began, but Lila cut him off

"It's Laven! Don't you recognise him?"

"That's not Laven! Lila who is that?" Deep said

Aurip on the other hand took a more direct approach, he ran forward and grabbed Kal by the collar

"IMPOSTER! Call the police!"

Lila tugged Aurip's shirt "Umm what are you doing to Laven?"

"Open your eyes Lila! This isn't Laven! He's not even the right colour!"

"H-huh?" Lila's voice became shakier "y-your n-not L-Laven?"

Kal panicked "uhh no don't listen to him, its me Laven."

"You creep!" Aurip pushed Kal onto the wall, still holding onto his collar "What are you trying to do with Lila?"

"If you would let me explain."

"What is there too explain?! Deep call the cops."

Deep reached for his phone "I got it, you keep him pinned."

Aurip looked at Lila, who appeared to be quivering for some reason.

Aurip assumed it was out of fear.

"Lila take a good look at this guy, he's not Laven."

"Don't listen to him."

"Shut up!" Aurip shouted as he slammed Kal into the wall again.

Deep put a protective hand on Lila's shoulder.

"Don't worry Lila, come with us, the other Vanguards and I will keep you safe."

_Vanguards….._

Lila closed her eyes, she shook herself free of Deep's grasp "No Laven is Laven and that is Laven!"

"Dammit Lila! Take a good look at this red guy!" Aurip shouted "This isn't Laven! Laven is dead!"

_ **Vanguards….** _

_ **Dead….** _

Deep once again tried to comfort Lila in his own way. "Lila, I know you miss Laven, we do too, but he was splatted by the Octarians, so don't-"

_ **Vanguards….** _

_ **Dead….** _

_ **Octarians….** _

_ **Laven….** _

Everything Lila had been running away from was forced back onto her.

"LAVEN! Where's Laven!" Lila panicked again.

"Hey hey calm down." Deep said as Lila started to struggle

"No I need to find Laven! LAVEN!"

Lila ran for the door

"You idiots!" Kal shouted

Still pinned against the wall, Kal brought both his feet up and kicked hard into Aurip's chest.

Since he was supported by the wall, Kal easily sent Aurip flying towards Deep, who caught Aurip before he fell on him.

Now free Kal switched to squid form to hop past Deep and Aurip, quickly transforming back and embracing Lila before she could run outside.

"Lila don't worry I'm right here."

"Laven?" Lila was on the verge of tears and barely got the name out.

"Yes it's me."

"Wahh!" Lila cried in Kal's arms

"Lila get away! That is not Laven!"

Kal glared at Deep and Aurip

He had unwillingly taken the role of Laven to help Lila get better, now those two jerks showed up and nearly broke Lila even further.

Kal wanted to give them a piece of his mind, but he couldn't explain anything if Lila was still here…

"Shut up you two!" Kal shouted "Seriously you are taking this joke way too far!"

"Huh?" Both Deep and Aurip said at the same time.

"Joke?" Lila asked, equally confused

"Yeah! Seriously I'm right here and alive! Stop pretending that I died! And what this Vanguard nonsense? Do you think it's fun to make Lila cry?!" Kal yelled at Deep and Aurip, still holding Lila.

Lila started to recover

"It's was a joke? I knew it! I hate you Deep! I hate you Aurip!"

This put the two in a panic

"Wait why are you agreeing with him?" Deep asked

"I trust Laven! Only Laven! He's right here after all! He's not dead!" Lila shouted with all her might.

It was clear that she still couldn't accept Laven's death.

"Lila can you go to your room for a while, I need to have a little chat with…. Deep and Aurip." Kal said, nearly forgetting the names of the two Inklings.

Lila nodded, she still had tears trickling down her cheeks "Okay."

Wiping away tears, Lila walked upstairs to her room, angrily glaring at the very confused Deep and Aurip as she passed them.

Kal, Deep and Aurip all stood by as Lila went away, keep quiet until they heard her close the door to her room.

As soon as they heard it, Deep drew his Roller and Aurip raised his fists.

"Alright the IPD is on their way, don't even try to run." Deep said bringing his roller to Kal's chin.

"I won't try to, the IPD already knows what's going on." Kal replied "Who do you think put me in charge of Lila in the first place?"

"Huh? In charge? You work for the IPD?" Deep asked without lowering his weapon.

"No, but pretending to be Laven was their request, well rather the request of Inkopolis' defense minister, who basically controls the IPD."

"Not buying it, why would the cops send some stranger to impersonate someone else?"

"If you would let me explain i'm sure you'll understand. First off i'm not Laven."

"No squit." Aurip commented

Kal ignored him and continued

"I am Kalus, but I had to start impersonating Laven for the sake of Lila's health."

"What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you notice Lila's condition? She can't accept that Laven and her family is dead. So now she's living in her own world. For some reason she thinks i'm Laven, I tried telling her exactly what you did, that Laven is dead, but in response Lila only started hurting herself. So to prevent Lila from breaking even further, I started pretending to be her brother."

Deep and Aurip stared at Kal, who made no signs of lying.

"What do you think Deep?" Aurip asked his friend

"I think we should wait for the cops first." Deep replied, keeping Kal at the edge of his roller.

Kal sighed "Alright, but they'll say the same thing. It's not like I wanted to impersonate Laven in the first place. Also stop talking about the Vanguard movement when Lila is nearby... Out of everyone in Inkopolis why did I have to be stuck with Lila..."

It was as Kal said, the officers that arrived told Deep and Aurip the same story.

Lila was crazy and Kal was there to help her recover.

It was not exactly easy to believe, but Deep and Aurip were convinced after the IPD officers explained everything.

Even though Kal was angry that these two had shown up suddenly and made a mess of things, it wasn't exactly fair to blame them.

As for why they showed up in the first place:

"You wanted Lila to go to Octo Valley again?! What are you thinking?"

That was Kal reaction to Deep and Aurip explaining that they wanted Lila to come with them and the Vanguard movement's second wave.

"We didn't know Lila wasn't doing well! We thought that she'd be glad to keep supporting the movement she and her family created." Deep explained

"Why would you even consider taking an 11 year old to a warzone in the first place?"

"I… well… Lila should be unhappy with her treatment in Octo Valley right? So wouldn't she want a little payback?"

"Are you serious…"

Kal couldn't believe these two.

"Hey if Lila isn't well, then she can stay home, we're not about to force her into the Vanguard movement anyways. We just thought it was right for her to tag along, after all it was her family that created the movement in the first place." Deep explained

"Well then you should leave now, in the meantime I have to go make sure Lila's alright."

"Sorry about earlier, I had no idea what was going on, so I probably made a mess of things." Aurip apologized

"Me too, I probably shouldn't have shouted all that stuff about Laven's death." Deep followed

"You really did make things worse. But I guess it's to be expected, after all a stranger like me is impersonating your dead friend, if I was in your place I'd probably react the same way."

"Yeah I guess. Hey if Lila gets better, tell her about the Vanguard-"

"No" Kal cut Deep off as soon as he mentioned "Vanguard".

"What do you mean "no"?"

"Look, I think the Vanguard movement is a bad idea. I was also squidnapped by the Octarians and I saw them fight. They are much more coordinated than a turf war team, and they come in large numbers too. It's more than we can handle."

"Hmph. Well that's your opinion, but when Lila comes too, let her decide for herself. Oh and keep in mind that the second wave is moving on Octo Valley in a week, so if Lila gets better before then, let us know."

"Alright fine." Kal said, but he was just saying that so he could get these two out of his sight.

Once Deep and Aurip were gone, Kal went to check on Lila.

The moment he opened the door to her room, Lila burst out of it.

"Laven! Why were there police cars outside!? Did Deep and Aurip get arrested? I hope they did!" Lila said, wrapping herself around Kal.

"Uhh, isn't that a bit harsh?"

"What do you mean? They attacked us in our home, that is something only criminals do."

"Yeah but… Deep and Aurip are our friends."

Lila twitched

Kal knew what that meant '_Oh no, I said something wrong didn't I?'_

"Well my friends at least." Kal corrected "Don't worry, I made sure they won't play such a harmful prank again."

"Thank you dear brother!"

"Whoa!"

Lila suddenly leapt onto Kal, latching onto him completely with her arms and legs wrapped around him.

It was like a koala on a tree.

'_Is it just me, or is Lila being even more clingy now….'_ Kal wondered

Perhaps it was time to see Dr Asio again.

It was also time to visit Cuttlefish's shack to update them on the Vanguard movement.

* * *

**Guerilla camp, Octo Valley**

Inker toured the lair, still unable to read any of the signs.

Just like yesterday he was met with mean looks everywhere he went.

The Octarians in the weight room were doings all sorts of physical activity, but when Inker passed by they shouted: "What are you looking at squid!?"

Meanwhile the ones in the main room were jogging together in a single file line.

They noticed Inker stop by and observe them, so they began to chant loudly:

(To the tune of When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again)

"Octarians marching one by one!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

We splatter Inklings just for fun!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

The troops will shoot, the balls will roll

Octavio's song will guide our souls

And we'll all feel safe when the army comes marching home."

There was a brief pause, all you could hear were the sounds of marching Octolings…

"The citizens will cheer and twirl!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

To welcome home our daring girls!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

Then everybody will sing along

For every soldier knows this song.

And we'll all feel safe when the army comes marching home."

A catchy tune, but it wasn't Inker's kind of music, so he left and proceeded to the firing range.

"Stop it! Stop shooting my targets!" came Neon's voice.

Inker doubled his pace to the firing range, as he was sure Neon might be getting into trouble again.

When he got there, Neon was wrestling with an Octoling, while two Octotroopers tried to pull her away.

"What are you doing?" Inker asked

Seeing Inker, Neon let go of the Octoling, only to tumble backward onto the Octotroopers who had been pulling on her with their single tentacles.

Neon quickly picked herself back up

"Inker! This is so annoying! Everything here is at such close that I can't make full use of hte E-Liter! And everytime I try to shoot something, those Octarians steal it from me!"

It was probably their way of making Neon feel unwelcome.

"Don't blame us for your poorly designed Inkling weapon." one of the Octolings said

"It's a Charger! They are supposed to charge their shots!"

"Pfft, what good is a weapon if it can't fire on demand? The Octoshot is far superior."

"Alright that's it!"

Inker held Neon back as she tried to attack the Octoling again.

"Learn to control yourself will ya? If you want to fight goto the sparring room." the Octoling said again.

"We can fight here? Alright!" Neon calmed down and cheered up instantly

"Come on Inker, let's find the sparring room!" Neon said, tugging on Inker's arm

"Okay okay, I'm with you, no need to pull!"

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's mission control, Octo Valley**

Sky and Cuttlefish were already checking in on Inker and Neon, when Kal showed up.

"Hi guys."

"Hi Kal, umm don't you have your hands full with Lila at the moment?" Sky asked

"Well yeah but something else came up, I came to tell you that the Vanguard movement's second wave is coming in a week."

"You know you could have just texted me that." Sky pointed out, Kal already knew, but really he just wanted an excuse to check on Inker and hopefully Victoria too.

It would be a good way to remind him of his real life, and not his fake Laven life.

Kal glanced at the screen in front of Sky and Cuttlefish.

Inker was following Neon somewhere.

They passed by the main room and the jogging Octarians once more, however this time they weren't noticed.

The Octarians were still chanting as they jogged, although they had a different tune this time.

(To the tune of I Don't Know But I've Been Told)

"I don't know what i've been told!" shouted the lead Octoling

"I don't know what i've been told!" repeated the others

"Octo Valley is good as gold!"

"Octo Valley is good as gold!"

"Sound off!"

"One two! Three four! Two two three four!"

"They told me the other day!"

"They told me the other day!"

"We're in a game that people play!"

"We're in a game that people play!... Wait what?"

"Is that a normal thing for soldiers to do?" Inker heard Sky ask

He had almost forgotten that Sky and Cuttlefish were back at mission control, monitoring him through his Hero suit.

"Maybe, but what's with the silly tune?" That was Kal's voice.

"Oh Kal's with you guys?" Inker asked

"Yeah I just got here, how's everything on your end?"

"Awful!" Neon complained "everything is bad and everyone is unfriendly, well everyone except for Victoria and my new friend Lynn!"

'_Neon befriended Lynn?'_ Kal wondered

Inker and Neon continued on until they reached a room with mirrors on the walls and mats on the floor.

The sparring room.

There was already a few Octotroopers and Octolings here.

The Octotroopers were not doing much but swinging their head, hitting each other with their single tentacle or tackling each other.

As for the Octolings, they fought using martial arts, Inker could tell by a glance that they were pretty experienced with it.

He also noticed Victoria, who was busy sparring with another Octoling.

Victoria and the Octoling traded blows, blocking each other's punches and dodging each other's kicks.

Victoria spun and kicked at the Octoling's head, who promptly ducked and avoided it.

Victoria's heel landed behind her opponent, noticing this Victoria twisted and sent her elbow at her opponent's neck.

The Octoling tried to duck, but she took Victoria's elbow to the face which knocked her back, making her trip over Victoria's heel.

The Octoling hit the ground hard, she winced, before opening her eyes.

Victoria helped her opponent back on her feet.

Despite just being knocked down, the Octoling looked unhurt, she and Victoria started complimenting each other and exchanging tips on how to improve.

But were interrupted when Neon gave Victoria a hearty slap on the back

"That was awesome! Good job Victoria! I bet Kal will be proud!"

"Neon I told you before-" Kal began, but Neon ignored him and focused on Victoria

Victoria was surprised to see the two of them here.

"When did you two get here?" she looked back at the Octoling she was sparring with earlier, but she had already left upon seeing Inker and Neon.

"I heard you can fight here, so I came here as fast as I could." Neon said

"It's not the kind you like, this is the sparring room, you fight with your bare hands, no weapons."

"Aww, how do you win then?" Neon asked

"What do you mean "win" this isn't a game Neon, this is how we train for hand to hand combat."

"What's the point of that?"

"You never know when you might find yourself in a situation where your only weapon is your own body, so it's important to practice fighting without weapons."

"You'd know wouldn't you?" inker commented

"Huh? Oh right that time…"

The time she ended up in Inkopolis with no weapon.

"Let's not talk about that here." Victoria whispered

"Alright then, hey wanna fight me?" Neon asked

Victoria wondered if Neon could fight without that sniper weapon of hers.

"Hmm? Well I guess I could be your sparring partner. Are you sure you can fight without a weapon?"

"Yeah yeah! Totally! Fighting comes naturally to me!"

Before Neon and Victoria could spar however, they were interrupted by someone shouting: "Attention!"

Victoria saw the captain enter the room and promptly saluted along with the other Octarians in the room.

"As you were." the captain dismissed them.

She had come here at an interesting time.

"Well well, I came to check on Holter, but I didn't expect to see you here Agent 3. Are you entertaining the troops?"

"I just got here, I haven't had to chance to spar with anyone yet." Inker replied

The captain smiled

"Well then, how about you be my sparring partner? I'd like to see what the infamous Agent 3 can do."

With no reason to decline, Inker agreed "Alright, why not."

"Umm Inker, I don't think that's a good idea." Kal said "I saw that captain easily take down Bogs back in Melanin prison."

"I think it's fine, it's just training after all." Inker said as he faced off against Captain Vale.

The other Octarians in the room all stopped to watch, they were eager to see their captain in action and against Agent 3 of all sea creatures.

"Hey Neon, could you ask Victoria-" Kal began, but Neon removed her Hero headphones and pass them to Victoria.

"Kal wants to say something."

Victoria looked at the headset, she didn't know how it worked, but apparently Kal was able to talk through it.

She put them on

"-eon? Neon? Can you say something?"

"It's me." Victoria said

"Huh? Victoria?"

"Yep, why didn't anyone tell me that I could contact you on this headset?"

"Well you can't really, i'm just here for a while cause I wanted to check in on you... And Inker of course. Heh. Anyways do you think Inker stands a chance against that captain?"

"Nope."

"What?"

"Not a chance, that captain is famous for hand to hand combat, I don't see anyone being able to beat her in that aspect."

"But Inker is Agent 3."

"Maybe, but he fights with the Hero Shot and all kinds of other gear right? He's at a disadvantage here."

"Should we stop Inker?"

Inker heard everything through his own Hero headset

"Seriously you guys, have some more confidence in me." Inker said

"Well alright, good luck." Kal said

Under the gazes of Victoria, Neon and many other Octarians, Inker stood face to face with Captain Vale.

Vale was older, taller and tougher looking and Inker, but he wasn't intimidated at all.

He had splatted more than enough Elite octolings in the past to a point where he no longer feared them..

"Are you ready?" Asked Captain Vale

"Yes" As soon as he said that, Captain Vale attacked with an unusual move.

Vale tucked and rolled past Inker, but as she rolled her foot shot up and connected with Inker's jaw.

A rolling kick

Inker had never seen a move like that before and was caught completely off guard.

"Yeah! Way to go captain!"

"Good move captain!"

The other Octarians cheered

Inker wasn't ready to give up, he knew a decent bit about martial arts.

He tried to punch Captain Vale but Vale was quick to dodge and land another kick on Inker.

She didn't stop at one, using the momentum from the first kick, Vale spunthe opposite way and landed another kick, repeating this process three more times, knocking Inker back..

The Octarians cheered again.

Inker knew he was outmatched

So he decided the try something else

Leaping towards Captain Vale, Inker swtiched to squid form and slipped past her, he quickly transformed again, and struck Vale with a back kick.

Vale was quick to react however, she also landed a back kick on Inker.

At least Inker scored a hit.

Vale never stopped at one attack though, she followed through with her elbow, swinging it at Inker's face as she turned around, going into a spin and launching a flurry of kicks.

Inker narrowly avoided the attack, he ducked and hit the captain with a strong uppercut.

But the captain quickly leaned backward and avoided it, before Inker could bring his arm back, she grabbed it.

Then Captain Vale turned with all her might, yanking Inker's arm and getting him to lose balance, before letting go and kicking him in the side, sending him flying a good distance.

Inker sputtered, composed himself, and preformed a roundhouse kick, only for Vale to quickly step forward, grab his leg with both hands, and spin in the same direction as the kick, using Inker's own momentum to send him flying.

The Octarians stood aside, letting Inker have a heavy fall.

"I guess it's over." said Captain Vale

Inker sat back up, with a lot of pain

"Oww, that was cold, you didn't have to go all out like that."

"What can I say? I was expecting more from you."

The Octarians were happy

"Way to go captain!"

"You showed him captain!"

"No one can beat you captain!"

The captain beamed.

Beating Agent 3 was good for morale.

The Octarians who saw her beat Agent 3 would spread the word to the others very soon.

Neon rushed to her friend's side and helped him back up.

"You okay?"

"I've felt worse."

Since Inker was okay, Neon immediately hopped over to the captain.

"Okay now fight me too!"

"Huh?"

Captain Vale did not expect the other Inkling to challenge her right after witnessing Inker's loss. She expected her to be intimidated, not encouraged.

Still it shouldn't be hard to beat her, after all she couldn't be better than Agent 3.

"Neon what are you thinking?" Kal asked

"Neon can't hear you, I have her headset remember?" came Victoria's voice.

"Oh right."

Inker asked the same thing

"Seriously Neon? This is not turf wars or anything."

"Hey I can fight without my E-liter, why do you doubt me so much? Remember fighting comes to me naturally, so don't worry. I'm up for the challenge!" Neon shone with confidence

Inker looked at the crowd of Octarians

"Come on captain you got this!"

"You beat Agent 3! You can beat her!"

'_Is this a training room or a fight club?….'_ Inker wondered

"Alright are you ready?" Vale asked

"Yep!"

Captain Vale started with a different move this time, she thought that Neon couldn't be better than Agent 3, so she decided to start with a flashier spinning kick.

But as fast as she was, Neon managed to intercept the kick with her arm.

"?!"

Vale spun and kicked with her other leg and to everyone's surprise Neon managed to block it with her other arm.

"!?"

Now was Neon's turn, she raised her leg and kicked hard into Vale's chest, but the captain was quick to step back, avoiding it.

Neon recoiled her leg so fast that Vale could not grab it and retaliate.

Neon and Captain Vale went around attempting to punch, kick or knock down the other, but to everyone's surprise, they were evenly matched.

Neon was quick as a cat, ducking and dodging endless punches and kicks, but so was Captain Vale.

For some reason Captain Vale started feeling fired up, she hadn't felt that way in a while.

So did Neon, but that was because she didn't play turf or anything like it in a while.

The two started moving even faster, attacking and blocking each other at lightning speeds.

On the sidelines, Inker, Kal, Sky and Victoria could barely believe their eyes.

Captain Vale was definitely a professional fighter, capable of chaining many moves together and didn't waste a single second.

Yet somehow Neon was able to keep up, attacking, blocking and adapting equally fast, even managing to mimic some Vale's moves.

Captain Vale did all sorts of things, rapid kicks, jabs, the rolling kick she performed on Inker and even did a handstand, spinning with her hands while trying to kick Neon at face level

Neon was nimble enough to dodge almost everything but she couldn't get past Captain Vale's defense either.

"Come on captain!"

"Don't lose captain!"

"You got it captain!"

The other Octarians cheered even harder

For some reason Inker, Kalus and Sky all started getting the urge to cheer for their odd friend.

Maybe it was the competitive spirit of Inklings, or maybe because Neon was doing something unbelievable to them.

"Go Neon!" Inker shouted

"Yeah don't give in Neon!"

"I'll cheer for you this once Neon!"

Even though she wouldn't hear them, Kal and Sky also cheering, shouting at the screen

"Com'on put that captain in her place!" Even Cuttlefish joined in.

Only Victoria remained quiet, she didn't know who to cheer for. Cheering for Neon felt right, but cheering for the captain did too.

After a few minutes of fighting, Neon and Captain Vale started to slow down.

Then, after more blocked blows, they both stopped.

"Huff huff"

Both Neon and Captain Vale were sweating and breathing heavily.

The captain smiled "Huff…. Not bad….heh "

So did Neon "Huff…. You weren't so bad yourself…. Haha."

They were both tried out from that wild melee.

The Octarians ran to Captain Vale's side, except for VIctoria, who ran to Neon's side with Inker.

"Captain are you alright?"

"I'm fine Eliza, just a bit tried, that was definitely a surprise though, who knew that green girl would be a match for me? Nobody has ever pushed me this far in hand to hand combat."

For some reason, despite not being able to beat an Inkling, the captain felt refreshed.

As for Neon, she wiped away sweat and collapsed onto Inker and Victoria.

"Hey! Don't just fall on us without warning!" Inker said as he and Victoria caught Neon.

"Its a trust fall! Haha!" Neon stood back up "Still that was great! Who knew sparring could be so fun!"

"You have to teach me how to do that." Victoria for once, saw Neon to be more than the trigger happy fool she knew.

"I don't think I can, it just all comes to me naturally, I can't even begin to explain it, heh." Neon rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment

Victoria noticed a few Octarians stealing glances at them.

Were they judging her for checking on Neon instead of the captain?

The Octarians whispered to each other.

"Looks like we need to keep a close eye on both Inklings…"

"Yeah, I thought the captain could handle Agent 3 and we could deal with that girl, but it seems like it won't be that easy."

"We should probably avoid saying this to Victoria too, she seems to trust them more than us…"

Following Victoria's gaze, Inker noticed the Octarians eying them as well.

More specifically they were eying Neon.

"Hey Neon, I'm glad you had your fun, but I think you just painted a big target on the back of your head."

"Huh?"

Inker assumed that with Neon being able to take on the captain, the Octarians would shift their attention to her.

It wasn't safe for them here.

* * *

"Captain, where have you been?" Lynn asked, once the captain finally returned to her quarters.

"Oh I was busy observing our guests. Do you have something for me?"

"Yes, a report from the scouts and informants. It seems that Octavia has been gathering the names of everyone in our splatoon."

"Their names huh? That shouldn't have taken very long, you know what this means right?"

"No ma'am, I do not have your military knowledge and experience."

"Well then take the chance to improve, you can't stay as a low ranking Octoling forever."

"Yes of course, I shall do as you say."

The captain wondered how she could shape Lynn to be more like Claire, her former adjutant.

"Well anyways, we may have some trouble on our hands, though I can't say for certain yet. Go spread the word among the troops that there may be a battle coming."


	29. Boring

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

There was a meeting for the Elites.

Octavia was present, along with every other Elite Octoling.

Well except for a certain captain.

"Alright, I want all of you focused on dealing with Emily Vale's little group of traitors." Octavia refrained from calling Vale a captain. "The sooner we are done with her, the sooner we can turn our attention back to Inkopolis."

Octavia had a list of names.

"Here is a list of the families and known associates of everyone in Vale's splatoon, I want them all rounded up and imprisoned, preferably somewhere other than Melanin since Vale would be familiar with that place. After that we will use them to force Vale into surrendering."

Octavia planned on dragging more Octarians into this conflict.

There were some Elite who were unsure about that idea, but they kept their mouths shut.

The others followed along with Octavia of their own accord, even adding their own ideas to the table.

"In case Vale doesn't surrender, we should brainwash a few of them to help us spy on Vale and her splatoon." One Elite suggested

"That would depend on Vale showing up to rescue them, but if that's the case then we could sneak in a few of our own soldiers and have them pretend to be civilians imprisoned by us."

"We should also make sure that Vale doesn't gain any more allies. Lets find out what colour of ink she's using, then have a splatoon of our own attack the Undercity using that colour. That will destroy Vale reputation and ruin any chance of her getting more help."

"They are all good ideas. You may all proceed how you see fit, just make sure you deal with Vale as quickly as possible. Also keep in mind that the Vanguard movement might show up again soon." Octavia reminded

"We don't have Lila to control them anymore, how are we supposed to know where they are?" one Elite asked.

"They don't know Octo valley like we do, nor are they very experienced in combat. Chances are they will follow the same path as the previous attack wave so that they won't get lost."

"Well then, we won't have to worry much about them."

"Mmhmm."

Octavia stood up

"I'll leave the matter of the Vanguard movement in your hands, I'm going to focus on Vale."

"Yes Ma'am!"

Octavia left the meeting room, on the way back to her quarters she passed by a few Octolings welding Rollers.

The same Rollers she told Vale to destroy.

She had initially thought that the whole Roller concept was flawed and would never prove useful in battle, so when it was revealed that Vale had made her own Rollers for her splatoon, she ordered her to get rid of them.

It wasn't until she saw Agent 1 with her Hero Roller that she was convinced to give the Rollers a shot, sometimes she wondered if Vale had the same mindset.

'_Oh well, Vale was a subordinate back then, and a subordinate only exists to bring rewards to those above them._

_Just like with Octavio….'_

'_Besides Vale is a traitor now, not the captain she once was.'_

* * *

**Guerilla camp, Octo Valley**

While most of the splatoon was asleep for the night, Vale stayed awake along with the few on night guard.

She knew that Octavia had been compiling a list of everyone's names.

It was really nagging at her, Octavia was planning something.

Something, but they had no idea what.

Vale wouldn't risk contacting any of her old associates, the only other option would be to head back to the Undercity and find out for themselves.

It would be a risk to head back to the Undercity, but they needed more information.

Glancing at a map of Octo Valley, the captain wondered where would be an appropriate entry point.

There was also the question of who to send.

They would need to send a squad of Octolings of course, Octotroopers were too slow and Octoballs left a noticable trail of ink if they rolled.

They didn't have any flying Octarians available to them either.

"Hmmm"

The captain wondered if Victoria was any good at making herself scarce, maybe she would put her in charge of gathering information.

What were the other options? Lynn?

'_No, Lynn still has trouble trusting her own judgement, she isn't suited for leading a recon mission.'_

Then the image of Agent 3 came to mind.

Vale remembered the time when she was the captain of the guards at Melanin prison, not only did Agent 3 manage to move through the Undercity undetected, but he also got to Melanin four days earlier than expected.

'_Agent 3 might be the right one for the job. If he agrees to go that is. If I put Eliza on the recon squad, she'll probably look for an opportunity to leave him in Octavia's clutches. That would be a quick way to rid-'_

Vale noticed what she was planing and stopped herself.

'_There it is again, why is it that I do such unreasonable things when Inklings are involved? I never said it, but I wanted Agent 3's help didn't I? Agent 3 should be adept at sneaking around, though he isn't one of my subordinates so I can't exactly order him around, unless of course he volunteers first.'_

Vale always hated Inklings, but when asked why she hated them, her mind always came up empty.

Now she noticed that she sometimes starts plotting against Agent 3 without intending to do so.

It was all very strange.

Oh well, right now she had to figure out a way to get Agent 3 to join the recon mission.

'_Maybe I can get Lynn or someone else to try and convince him. Actually, what are the others doing around Agent 3 anyways?'_

Maybe she should have somebody observe him the next day.

* * *

The next morning, Inker and Neon slept too much again.

Inker slept soundly, until he felt something on his face.

It was cold, no wait it was hot, no it was cold, yet it burned.

"Gahh!"

Inker shot up, wiping his face on his blankets.

"Ahhh!" Beside him, Neon did the same.

Inker glared at two Octolings, who were standing in the room, smiling and holding empty cups.

"You poured water on me!?" Inker shouted

"Wake up on time or it will only get worse." one of the Octolings said before they left the room with smiles on their faces.

Inker was starting to hate being here.

"Inker! Hows my face!?" Neon lept up from her bed and dashed at Inker.

"Uhh it's fine I guess."

The parts where the water had been left her skin red, Inker assumed his face looked the same right about now.

"It's fine?! Are you sure? Cause you got all these red parts on yours." Neon exclaimed

"Yeah I thought so, don't worry it will heal later... I think."

Inker thought about what the Octolings had said, how things were only going to get worse if they didn't wake up on time.

Pouring water on them was already bad enough, it wasn't a lot of water, but it was still painful.

Inker assumed that they were just unhappy with his presence and taking every opportunity to make his stay unpleasant.

"We should probably get used to waking up at this hour." Inker said

"What? But it's soo early!"

"Well unless you want those Octolings to keep waking you up like that, you should get used to waking up early."

"Booo…"

Just like yesterday, breakfast was not good.

Inker made sure to check his seat of any nails this time before sitting down.

While their breakfast went undisturbed, someone had tripped Inker on the way out.

Inker caught a glance of that same Octoling from before.

'_Seriously, what's her problem?'_

Once again left with nothing to do, Inker and Neon wandered for a bit before coming across the marching Octarians again.

Victoria came by, intending to join the march, however she stopped when she saw Inker and Neon there.

The marching Octarians were singing the same song from yesterday.

"The officers will smile with glee!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!

And toast the death of Agent three!

Hurrah!

Hurrah!"

"Puehehe." Neon was holding back laughter, finding that song to be funny..

Inker simply looked on with curiosity.

"Is that what you normally sing during a march?" Inker asked

"Well yes, although these guys changed the lyrics for some reason." Victoria replied. "By the way, the captain is assembling a reconnaissance team to sneak into the Undercity, I figured-"

"Let's do it!"

Victoria was cut off by Neon before she could finish.

"Neon, it's a recon mission."

"I know."

"Do you know what reconnaissance is?"

"No."

"Why are you volunteering to eagerly then?"

"I dunno, I'm just bored of being cooped up in here all day, so even though I don't know what reek on a sense is, it's gotta be better than staying here right?"

"Recon missions involve sneaking around, gathering information and avoiding combat."

"Oh, nevermind then."

Neon immediately lost the will to participate.

"I'll do it." Inker volunteered.

"Huh? Why though?"

"Well I don't like being left in the dark, I doubt Captain Vale is going to tell me what's going on so I figured I need to find out for myself, she seems to trust you so can you tell her that I want in on this recon thing?"

"Sure."

"Okay I'll go too then." Neon suddenly added.

"Didn't you just change your mind two seconds ago?"

"Yeah but I changed it again, nothing wrong with that. I can tag along right?"

"Uhh sure." Victoria didn't sound too sure though.

From what she had seen, Neon was far from being the quiet type, her strange love for combat would also make her ill suited for this kind of mission.

She whispered to Inker "Do you think it's a good idea bringing her along?"

"I don't know, Neon is... well…. Neon, it's hard to say what goes on in her head."

"Mmhmm, at this point, it might as well be considered the world's biggest mystery."

"Hey why are you two whispering to each other?" Neon asked

"Oh nothing, I'll see if the captain needs you on the mission."

* * *

**Inkopolis, Cephalic hospital**

"I did not expect to see you here again so soon Mr Fields."

Kal was visiting Dr Asio again, but this time things were different.

"Laven? Why do you need to see a doctor so suddenly? Are you not feeling well?"

Clinging on to Kal was Lila.

Ever since Deep and Aurip's visit Lila had become even more clingy than before.

Dr Asio knew that Kal was acting as Laven, so she played along, referring to him as "Mr Fields"

"Lila, you really don't need to come with me, you can just wait in the lobby, I'm not going anywhere." Kal said.

"No, I don't want too. You wouldn't visit a doctor unless you are unwell right? I need to know what's wrong, after all we are siblings, we should always look out for each other and never let each other go."

'_Yeah I figured as much'_

After being thoroughly and forcefully reminded of her family's death and the Vanguard movement, Lila's condition had only gotten worse.

It also didn't help that Deep and Aurip had pointed out all the differences between Kal and Laven to Lila.

Lila was desperate to cling on to that fantasy of hers, so now she was clinging on to Kal and doing everything to tell herself that he was Laven.

Kal looked at Lila, who was hugging his arm and smiling...

Although she looked happy, Kal knew that she didn't have a lot of time left.

Lila was treading on thin ice, one wrong move and she'd fall into the depths of insanity.

Though Kal still had no idea how to help her.

He had come to Dr Asio for advice and to update her on what happened with Deep and Aurip the other day, but they couldn't talk about all that when Lila was in the room.

So Asio kinda asked Lila to leave the room "I'd like to speak with your brother alone, so can you please wait in the lobby?"

"Hmm? Why can't I stay?"

"Some things must remain confidential between me and my patient and cannot be disclosed to other parties."

"But Laven and I are family. There is an exception for that right? There has to be."

"..."

Asio paused for a sec

'_What's wrong with her all of a sudden? Oh wait I think I know.'_

Last time, the doctor did everything by the book. She wouldn't even give Kal information on Lila without approval from the IMPA.

She would probably do the same today, but she had to pretend that Kal was indeed Laven.

Technically if Kal was Laven, Lila would be free to stay, but he wasn't. Yet to Lila, Kal was Laven, so Asio had no reason to make her leave.

Kal assumed that was why Asio stopped all of a sudden.

He wouldn't be surprised if smoke and sparks started flying out of her head.

"Lila, just listen to the doctor and wait for me in the lobby, I'll be fine."

"Really? You'll be fine? Are you sure?"

"Yes of course, what could possibly happen to me in a hospital?"

"Umm alright."

With a dejected and lonely expression, Lila dragged herself out of the room.

'_Last time she was happy to wait for me in the lobby. Damn you Deep and Aurip, you two definitely broke Lila even further.'_

As Kal noted yet another change in Lila's behavior, he was now free to talk with Dr Asio.

Asio noticed the change as well.

"Her behavior has changed since the last time you came, hasn't it?"

"That obvious huh."

"Well I believe I know why you came to see me on such short notice, can you please explain what caused Lila to behave in such a way?"

Like last time, Dr Asio had a notepad and was ready to note down whatever Kal said.

"It all happened yesterday morning, Lila wakes me up saying that one of Laven's friends called but then she forgot what he said. Then said friends actually show up to bring Lila back into the Vanguard movement, can you believe it? Dragging someone like Lila into a warzone, what are they thinking… Where was I?"

Kal's recollection of events slowly turned into a rant.

"Oh right, anyways so two of Laven's friends show up, they are called Deep and Aurip by the way, Lila tells them that Laven is with her, so she tries to get me to greet them. Of course I don't want too, but then Deep and Aurip decide to let themselves in. Now I'd expect them to at least wait for an explanation, but no they start yelling "imposter" and calling the cops while telling Lila that Laven is dead with the rest of her family. After all the hard work I put into steering Lila away from going crazy, those two just show up out of nowhere and ruin everything. Oh right, did I mention they went so far as to attack me in front of Lila?"

"Please stay on topic, if you want to rant about your life then visit a therapist."

"Oh sorry, well anyways yeah Deep and Aurip basically told Lila everything she didn't want to hear. Then Lila started freaking out so I acted like Deep and Aurip were just playing a prank and taking it too far, yet Lila still ended up like this."

"It was an appropriate course of action, don't worry."

Kal assumed that meant he did the right thing.

"But what now? You saw the way Lila was acting, I don't think she's getting any better."

"Of course not, after all she is having a psychotic breakdown."

"What!?... Is that?" Kal didn't know what that was, but it sounded serious.

"Well think of it as an episode of psychosis, a break from reality. Since Lila witnessed the death of the entire Vanguard movement's first wave, it is safe to assume that her breakdown is caused by immense post traumatic stress."

"Lila's been seeing me as Laven for days now, couldn't you have figured that out earlier?"

"Oh I already knew, I just couldn't really say it last time due to certain complications."

'_Right, she mentioned something like that last time. Well then…' _"What can we do to help her?"

"You haven't given me enough information to reach a clear conclusion. We know that Lila went through alot while under the influence of the Octarians, her family's death alone would be enough to trigger a psychotic break, but there could be more to it then just that."

"What else could there be?"

"What happened during your time in an Octarian prison?" Dr Asio suddenly shifted the topic.

"Hmm? Well all I remember was being shut in a cell for weeks, along with Lila and another Inkling named Bogs."

"What happened to Bogs?"

"The Octarians took him to some place called the boiling pit, he died there."

"Does Lila also know this?"

"She knew, everyone trapped at Melanin prison knew, all of us could hear him screaming the night he was taken away."

Asio wrote that down.

"And what about before? Think further back."

"There is nothing else important, all I remember is being knocked out, waking up on a stage and being beaten to the cheers of Octarians."

Dr Asio tapped her cheek with her pen, deep in thought.

It seemed like she was really trying hard to figure something out.

Kal felt somewhat relaxed seeing that Dr Asio was really racking her brains.

"What about in between? What happened with Lila in between the Vanguard and boiling pit incidents?"

"Lila was really scared, she probably thought what happened Bogs would happen to us. Of course I did my best to comfort her, but the Octarians threw her into the boiling pit as well."

Asio noted all of that down

"Well I think I can see why Lila's mind chose you to replace Laven. But keep going, what happened afterwards?"

"I didn't see Lila again until after her rescue." Kal said, but he was having second thoughts.

He did see Lila before her rescue, because he was the one who helped rescue her.

The New Squidbeak Splatoon had to remain a secret, but maybe it would be okay to tell Asio.

The doctor did keep things confidential, the only way the New Squidbeak Splatoon's existence could possibly escape her mouth was if by sheer chance Kal's family spoke with Dr Asio.

Yeah, it was probably safe to tell her…

"Actually that was a lie, I did meet her again before she was rescued."

Dr Asio raised an eyebrow, while crossing out something she had just written.

"Just to be sure, you won't tell anyone about me or Lila correct?"

"Of course."

"Very well, I did see Lila again, because it wasn't the IPD who rescued her. That story was a coverup made by defense minister Arcus."

Dr Asio began to furiously scribble notes.

"There is a Splatoon run by Cap'n Craig Cuttlefish and it's not just a rumor. It was this splatoon that brought back the zapfish, saved me and the others from Melanin prison and rescued Lila. Though I'm not sure if it was an actual rescue seeing as to how Lila was meant to be a spy for the Octarians."

Dr Asio wrote all of that down.

"And after all that, you were on good terms with Lila?"

'_You aren't at all curious about the New Squidbeak splatoon?'_

"I can't say for sure, after all she was being controlled at that time so I don't know."

"Hmm, alright then.."

Dr Asio once again went silent to think.

Kal looked at her with eyes full of anticipation.

"Well? Do you know how we can help Lila go back to normal?"

Sadly, Dr Asio shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't reach a solid conclusion, I need more time."

"More time for what?"

"To figure out the effects of Octarian brainwashing and what Lila had personally experienced."

"But that's not possible, Lila won't talk about anything that happened after being squidnapped and the only way to understand Octarian brainwashing is to speak with an Octarian."

"Yes I know that, I'm trying my best here Mr Kogia, but I can't act unless i'm absolutely certain I can help."

"So you're saying you can't do anything? Is a mental asylum the only option here?"

Dr Asio nodded

"Sadly yes."

"What?!"

"Can't you see that Lila is treading on thin ice? That encounter with Deep and Aurip should have made it clear: one wrong step and that ice with break, Lila will fall into the depths of insanity."

Kal could understand this, in fact he would have gotten it without that "thin ice" metaphor.

If Lila was already on the verge of insanity, then something had to be done.

"Well then doc, I should leave before Lila gets too worried…. Actually before I go there is one last thing I need to ask."

"Go on."

"Last time you said that anyone would seek revenge if somebody killed their loved ones, are you absolutely certain about that?"

"Yes, though it isn't necessarily revenge, rather anyone would seek closure to a traumatic event such as losing a loved one. Some may try to bury it, but deep down everyone would want closure for such an event."

"Closure, that would help someone recover from traumatic events?"

"Yes, that's what we've been looking to give Lila right? We just aren't sure how."

"Alright thanks, I'll take my leave now."

As Kal left the doctor's office, "closure" was all that was on his mind.

He met Lila in the hospital's lobby, where Lila hugged him again and refused to left go. She held Kal's arm for the entire trip home.

But Kal didn't mind, he had other things to think about.

He had only spoken with Dr Asio twice about Lila, yet he was trying to piece things together.

Dr Asio couldn't do anything to help Lila, but that didn't mean Kalus couldn't do anything.

Dr Asio also mentioned helping Lila accept reality by giving her a sense of closure.

If that was her goal, then Kal would go for something similar.

He looked at Lila, clinging on to his arm.

'_So you're saying you can't do anything? Is a mental asylum the only option here?'_

'_Sadly yes.'_

An image of Lila in a straitjacket flashed across Kal's mind.

Kal didn't want that to happen, he may not like getting into troublesome events, but he also didn't want to see someone like Lila suffer so much.

It was a similar feeling, Kal had felt the same way with Victoria back then.

Back when he hated Victoria for using him and Inker to steal the Great Zapfish, those feelings were wiped away the moment Victoria explained how terrible Octo Valley was.

After that Kal's attitude towards her had turned 180 degrees.

Maybe he saw a bit of Victoria in Lila, just like how Lila saw Laven in him.

'_Lila doesn't have a lot of time left, what can I do to help her?'_

It was impossible and unfair to seek revenge on the entire Octarian army.

But that wasn't needed, all Lila needed was some sort of closure.

No not necessarily closure either, Lila needed to face the facts and accept reality.

The best way to do that, would probably be to relive that day when Laven and her parents were lost.

Kal thought about the Vanguard movement and how they were still going to try a suicidal attack on Octo Valley.

It was the closest he could get to recreating the scenario where Lila lost her family.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

If he didn't act now, Lila would be lost.

Kal didn't want to get into more troublesome events, but there was no other choice.

'_I will join the Vanguard movement's second wave. The Octarians will definitely ambush them again, when that happens, i'll force Lila to open her eyes and accept that Laven and her parents are dead. As soon as she accepts it, we'll pull back, hopefully seeing a different outcome gives Lila some sort of closure.'_

It sounded cruel and brutelike, but it was all Kal could think of.

He didn't want to die like the previous Vanguard movement members and he wouldn't.

Because if the New Squidbeak Splatoon knew that he was doing something so dangerous, there was no way they'd sit idly by.

Neither would Victoria…

Kal felt a bit guilty doing it, but he had no other choice.

Pulling out his phone, Kal texted Sky, telling him that he would be part of the Vanguard movement and that he'd like everyone's help.

A bit of an unreasonable request but it was for the best.

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Inker and Neon quietly lept from roof to roof.

They had their eyes on an Octarian saucer doing rounds around the Undercity.

First it was stopped flying in and unloading troops, after a while the troops had returned, dragging other Octarians along.

Inker's job was to keep an eye on a certain address.

He didn't know who's it was, but the captain had her suspicions.

Thus he, Neon and a few other teams of 2, had risked coming back to the Undercity.

According to Captain Vale, going around in teams of 2 was extremely dangerous, a team of 4 was the safest option, but it would be more noticable.

Vale's Octoling teams snuck into the undercity using various methods, ranging from acting as civilians to entering from the sewers.

Inker was glad that Vale had let him do his own thing, he really didn't want to crawl through Octarian sewage, especially when he didn't have a bath of his colour down in Octo Valley.

They had spent the last few hours waiting, of course Neon complained, but Inker kept her quiet.

"Oh, here it comes."

Inker spotted the saucer flying in.

He and Neon changed into squid form and peeked over the rooftop once the saucer had landed.

"Did it see us? It saw us right? Can I shoot it?" Neon was overly eager to do something after seeing zero action in the past few days.

"No don't, nobody saw us, besides we can't attract attention here."

It was one thing to fight in a lair, fighting in the heart of the Octarian civilization was another.

Also their job was to simply observe what was going on.

If that was the case, then Sky and Cap'n Cuttlefish could have simply hacked into the Undercity's CCTV network again.

Captain Vale had been shocked to hear that they could do that, but she still insisted that they send a few recons teams instead.

It was a good call too, because the area went into another blackout shortly before the saucer appeared.

Clearly something important was going on.

Inker watched as a few Octotroopers, Octocopters and Octolings entered the building he was told to watch.

A few moments later they returned, holding another Octoling at gunpoint and forcing them to board the saucer with nothing but a single suitcase.

He should report that to Captain Vale's teams.

"This is 3, the saucer showed up as excepted, they are taking someone away, please advise."

No reply

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

No reply

'_They wouldn't just abandon me and Neon, would they?'_

Well if their Octarian allies weren't responding, then they would just turn to Sky and Cap'n Cuttlefish.

"Mission control, what the quickest way out of the Undercity?"

Hearing this, Neon stood up.

"We are leaving already?"

"Yep"

"But why? We haven't even done anything yet!"

"Neon, I think they abandoned us here."

"That's fine, it will be a bigger challenge."

"Not taking that risk, let's head back to Captain Vale's hideout, I have some words for her."

"Aww."

Inker and a very dissatisfied Neon left the Undercity as quickly as possible.

* * *

**Guerilla camp, Octo Valley**

The first thing Inker noticed when he came back, was that everyone was giving them as suspicious look.

He also noticed that the other teams were back already.

Whatever, Inker had to give that captain a piece of his mind.

Inker stormed to the captain's quarters, with Neon in tow.

They passed by Victoria along the way, who exclaimed.

"You're back! Where have you been?"

"Recon." Inker replied, not stopping for Victoria.

He burst into Captain Vale's quarters.

"Vale! What the heck is going on?!"

The captain looked as surprised as Victoria did.

"What are you doing here so late? Didn't you head back to Inkopolis?"

"Who told you that? I was still on that recon mission you gave me."

"Huh? That mission was over four hours ago, didn't you hear the call?"

"What call? Nobody told me anything. Where you perhaps trying to abandon me and Neon to the army?"

"Of course not, I wouldn't do that."

Inker didn't believe her.

Well technically she wouldn't do anything to Inker and Neon at the moment.

But when Octavia was gone, who knows?

"Did none of the other teams inform you that we were pulling out?" Captain Vale asked

"Nope"

'_Then that means somebody purposely kept him in the dark. I think I know who.'_

"Alright, give me a second."

Captain Vale picked up her phone and called for her adjutant.

"Lynn, tell Eliza Pierce to come see me ASAP."

"Right away ma'am."

Vale hung up the phone.

"I am so sorry for this incident, it won't happen again I'll make sure of it."

"Thanks." Inker replied

He didn't want to drag things out and he didn't want to point fingers at anyone either.

Sure he was kinda upset that they straight up abandoned him and Neon in the Undercity, but he could let it fly, just once.

If it happened again, he would come back and lecture Captain Vale and make it clear that he and his friends were not tools for her to weld.

Inker and Neon left Vale's quarters, leaving Vale to wait for Eliza.

'_I should have expected Eliza to do something unnecessary.'_ the captain thought.

'_Wait a second, I did expect that. Didn't I tell myself not to put Eliza on the recon team with Agent 3?'_

She caught herself doing something against her own plans.

How strange…

* * *

Inker sighed as he collapsed into his bunk.

"Tired? How are you tired? We did nothing today?" Neon asked

"I'm not tired, I guess I'm just somewhat disappointed by recent events maybe?"

Neon nodded

"Yeah yeah! So am I, it's only been three days and we've been doing basically nothing."

"Not that, I came here thinking that with Victoria and Lynn's help, we could befriend the Octarians here and start getting rid of the distrust between our two races. But its nowhere near as easy as I expected."

Listening to Inker, Neon kept her usual happy attitude.

"Well whatever you need to do, you can do it."

"You don't understand a thing do you..." came Sky's voice over their headsets.

"Well… umm… yeah I don't, but that's fine, I'll just do what I can and ignore the rest!"

"Troublesome girl…" Sky muttered, it was barely audible through their hero headsets.

"Stop calling me that!" Neon whined

"So Inker, how is everything on your end." Sky quickly changed the subject.

"Hey don't ignore meeee!" Neon pouted

As for Inker he began to think about any progress he had made towards befriending Captain Vale's splatoon.

"Well the Octarians still hate me, either that or they don't trust me. Aside from Victoria, there is only one other Octarian here that is on good terms with me and I can't begin to understand where Captain Vale stands here."

That captain was pretty strange, on one hand she seemed to be trying to keep her troops from bothering him and Neon, but there are also times where she seemed to be acting against them.

"Well, if you want to go away for a while, Kal needs our help with something." Sky said.

"Huh? What's going on with Kal?"

"I don't know, but apparently he and Lila are joining the Vanguard movement's second wave, which is going to be attacking Octo Valley by the end of this week."

"What?! Why?! What is Kal thinking?"

"I don't know, all he did was send me a text saying that he would need some help."

"Oh! I know! Kal must be bored sitting around in Inkopolis by himself!" Neon suggested

"I don't think that's the case, knowing Kal he'd probably want to avoid the Vanguard movement…" Inker pondered

Kal must have been planning something.

But what could it be?

Did he want them to help the Vanguard movement defeat the Octarian army?

Or maybe it was related to Lila?

"Hey wait, if Kal's with the Vanguard movement, then he and a bunch of other Inklings are going to end up fighting the Octarians right?" Neon asked

"Obviously." Sky replied

"Alright! I'm in! Finally! I've been so bored over the past few days I can't wait!"

For some reason Neon was shivering.

"Umm, are you cold?" Inker asked

"No no no! Not at all! I'm incredibly excited!" Neon was quivering in excitement.

"Troublesome girl…" Sky muttered again

Neon was too busy imagining the fight ahead to care though.

As for Inker, he had no reason not to help his best friend.

"Tell Kal to keep us updated, we'll be there when the time comes." Inker said

"YAY!" Neon couldn't help but cheer.


	30. The End of the Vanguard Movement

**Guerilla camp, Octo Valley**

Three days had passed since Kal told them about the Vanguard movement.

Those three days had been uneventful, the only thing Inker and Neon during those days were random bits of training with the Octarians of Captain Vale's splatoon.

And like always, they were not made welcome.

Oh well, today they had to leave, hopefully the captain doesn't suddenly come up with something for them.

Inker made sure to wake up early today.

In the last few days, those Octolings had been coming up with increasingly painful ways of waking him up, ranging from pouring water on him, to body slamming him awake.

But not today.

"...Hey let go of..….."

Neon was sleep talking like before.

Inker wasn't sure what time it was, but he should get up now.

As he equipped the Hero Shot and other equipment he checked his squidphone.

Since there was no service down here, he hadn't been using his phone at all, so it still had battery after these six days.

5:57 am

Good, he woke up on time.

Inker thought about rousing Neon from her sleep, but thought it would be better to let her be for now.

"... I'm not….. Neon now… Don't like that….."

Neon kept talking in her sleep.

Inker was fully awake now, although he wasn't used to getting up this early, he stretched and prepared himself for the day.

Because today Kal and Lila, along with the Vanguard movement would attack Octo Valley.

Inker was surprised that the Vanguard movement kept going even after losing their entire first wave.

Guess you couldn't underestimate the fighting spirit of Inklings…

At exactly 6:01 am, two Octolings entered Inker and Neon's room, intending to wake them up like before.

They smiled with glee as they entered, but those smiles disappeared when they saw Inker up and ready for the day.

"Oh, you're awake…. Ummm, good job." One Octoling said, mildly disappointed.

Both she and her partner were hiding something behind their backs.

A shiny metallic object…

Inker tried to peek over but the Octolings simply turned.

"What are you hiding? How were you planning to wake me up today?"

"Ohh nothing, well since you're up, go wake your friend and come for breakfast."

The two Octolings left quickly.

Inker caught a glimpse of a knife as they walked away.

'_Were they going to stab me to wake me up?!'_

Good thing he avoided that.

Inker gently shook Neon to wake her up.

"...not now Dios….."

"Uhh what?"

Inker wasn't sure if Neon was sleep talking or not.

He nudged Neon a bit harder this time

"Hey Neon, Neon it's time to wake up."

"Mmmmm? Oh good morning Inker, isn't it a bit early?"

"The Octolings came by already, but they couldn't do anything to us since I was already awake. Come on get up, let's go for breakfast then we need to plan for the day."

Today was the day that Kal and Lila would be entering Octo Valley with the Vanguard movement.

Inker still wasn't sure was Kal was planning, but he went along.

Meanwhile Sky and Cap'n Cuttlefish were going to be keeping an eye out for the Vanguard movement.

Inklings usually wake up around 10:00 AM so there was significant time to prepare.

Inker and Neon ate their disgusting breakfast quickly, then left to speak with Captain Vale.

Inker ignored the usual harassment from the other Octarians and went directly to the captain, he needed to know if she had anything planned.

"Ahh Agent 3, you are here early, if this is about the incident at the Undercity there is no need to worry, I have spoken with the one responsable."

Vale was talking about the recon mission that occurred a few days ago.

She suspected that the Octoling named Eliza would be the one behind it, since she seemed to have the deepest hatred for Agent 3 among the troops and she was right. Eliza had pretended to inform Inker and Neon that they were pulling out, Vale made sure to properly drill her on how to treat allies.

"That's not why i'm here, tell me, is there anything planned for today?" Inker asked.

"No, why do you ask?"

"Something else came up, so I need to be able to leave on a moments notice."

"Then go ahead, you aren't one of my subordinates so I can't really stop you in the first place."

"Alright thanks, oh and one more thing, Victoria might come with us."

"Victoria? What would you need her for?"

"It's not that, rather I think she'll want to come along once she hears the reason for our leave."

"Okay then, go do whatever you need to do."

"Aren't you at all interested on what's going on?"

"It's none of my business, I already have enough to worry about so you can go do whatever you want as long as you don't get in my way."

"Alright then, thanks for having us, goodbye Captain Vale."

Inker and Neon left to find Victoria.

"Why did you say goodbye like that? Are we not coming back?" Neon asked

"You want to come back?"

Neon shrugged "Maybe, sorta I guess."

Neon really was strange at times.

Didn't she find everything here boring?

Oh well, Inker wasn't going to think about that now.

For now he should find and tell Victoria about Kal's plan.

That's right Kal actually had some sort of a plan, though it wasn't a good one.

Just yesterday Kal explained to Sky who then explained to Neon and Inker that Kal wanted Lila to see the Vanguard movement losing against the Octarian army again.

Apparently he thought it could help her recover.

Kal wanted Lila to relive the events that took her family away from her, only this time the Vanguard movement will not be wiped out.

To help with this, Kal wanted Inker and Neon to wait nearby and help rescue the Vanguard movement after Lila has seen enough.

Inker wasn't sure how Kal expected just him and Neon to take on the Octarian army.

They had no idea how many Octarians would be fighting the Vanguard movement, so Inker wanted extra help.

Cuttlefish was going to see if Callie and Marie had time to spare, while Inker was going to find Victoria.

'_Maybe Kal is getting desperate'_ Inker thought

It wasn't like Kal to do something so rashly.

Inker and Neon found Victoria in the firing range and brought her out to speak with her.

"What's going on?" Victoria asked

Inker went straight to the point "Kal joined the Vanguard movement."

"I'm sure I didn't hear that right."

"Nope you heard me, Kal joined the Vanguard movement."

"WHAT?!"

Victoria grabbed Inker's collar

"What is Kal thinking? What's going on in Inkopolis? Also Neon stop smirking like that, I'm just worried for Kal okay, not in love with him!"

Neon giggled "Whatever you say."

"Anyways, it seems like Kal thinks joining the Vanguard movement will help Lila recover from her current state." Inker continued. "So he wants us to go clear a path for the Vanguard movement to get back to Inkopolis when he gives us the signal."

'_Seriously what is he thinking? Wait maybe what I said about revenge got to his head? Is he trying to help Lila get revenge for her family? Is this my fault?' Victoria wondered_

"Alright i'm in, that's why you came and told me this right? You knew I would help out."

"Exactly."

Inker didn't believe Neon's claims that Kal and Victoria were in love, but he knew that they always looked out for each other.

"Three of us versus whatever Octavia is throwing at the Vanguard movement, do you think this is going to work?" Victoria asked, doubtful of their chances.

Inker shared that doubt.

'_Last time, every single member of the Vanguard movement was killed aside from Lila. What would we be running into? Maybe I can get some extra help.'_

"Even i'm not so sure, so to be safe I'd like to ask a certain someone for a favor." Inker concluded. "You two should go wait for me near the exit, take everything you need as well, I'll be right back."

Inker left Neon and Victoria to search for one last Octarian.

Inker found Lynn and Eliza discussing something, not that it mattered to him.

"Lynn, do you have a moment? I need to speak with you."

Lynn, who was acting perfectly normal with Eliza, took a different tone with Inker "Hmm? Agent 3! Ahh yes of course, what do you need?"

Meanwhile Eliza shot Inker a mean look before leaving.

Inker ignored her and spoke to Lynn.

"Lynn, you owe me a favor from before, honestly I didn't think much of it at first, but I'm calling it in now, I need your help."

"Ahh."

Lynn snapped to attention

"I was expecting this sooner or later, as long as it wipes my slate clean, I shall do whatever you want. What is it that you need from me?"

Inker was somewhat surprised by Lynn eagerness, then again he didn't know her very well.

"Oh umm, you see there is this organization of Inklings in Inkopolis that are planning to attack Octo Valley. They are probably going to all get splatted, so we are going to help clear an escape route for them."

"Is that all Agent 3?"

"Yes, if you don't want to do this its fine, I understand since yo-"

"No i'm okay with this, I had prepared myself for whatever unreasonable demands you may have for me, but this is better than what I had expected. I'll let the captain know that I will be away today."

And so Inker now had a team of four, now to wait for Kal.

* * *

**Fields' family household, Inkopolis**

Kal woke up hours after Inker and Neon.

He had been sleeping on a few blankets laid out on the floor of Lila's room.

Lila was still asleep, her hand was dangling from her bed and almost touching Kal's face.

She had gotten to a point where she would not let Kal out of her sight, that must mean that she didn't have very long.

Kal gently woke Lila up, they had to prepare and meet with the Vanguard movement today.

"Laven?" Lila squeaked as she woke up.

"Yes it's me."

"What's going on?"

"I'm heading out to meet with Deep and Aurip in a moment, so I thought I should wake you up."

Lila, still drowsy, weakly grabbed Kal's hand "Okay... hold on I want to come with you…"

Kal patted Lila's head "Don't push yourself, if you are still sleepy then rest a bit more."

"Then can you stay here? please?" Lila said, like a child afraid of the dark.

"Well alright, I can't be late though."

"Don't worry, just give me five more minutes. *yawn*"

Lila forced herself to wake up so that she wouldn't lose sight of her "brother".

.After a quick breakfast they were on their way.

On their way to the Vanguard movement.

"Hi Deep, hi Aurip!" Lila called out to the two as she and Kal arrived in front of the manhole to Octo Valley.

"Hi….." The two waved weakly.

They were focused on the appearance of Kal, who like before was dressed like Laven and welding a Blaster, the only difference was the strange headset he wore.

Deep approached Kal and whispered. "What are you doing here? Did you change your mind?"

"Well somebody needs to pull your butts out of the fire."

Deep laughed "We won't be the ones burning, it's good to see that you've changed your mind."

He probably thought that Kal shared their views on the Octarian army.

Kal on the other hand was not planning to losing his life on some stupid attack.

All he needed to do was make Lila see a battle similar to the one she saw when she lost Laven and her parents.

"Well then, when are we going?"

"We are waiting on a few late guys, luckily the old Cap'n Cuttlefish isn't getting in our way this time." Aurip said.

"Well it's no problem this time right?"

Kal felt someone tugging on his sleeve.

"Laven? Who are all these other Inklings?"

"Ohh don't worry, Deep, Aurip and I are just uhh….. going on a tour, yeah and that's our tour group."

"Oh that sounds fun, I can come along right?"

"Of course, anything for my little sister, I already told them you'd be coming along.."

"Thanks Laven! Love you!" Lila hugged Kal.

Kal however only looked worried

He couldn't tell her the truth just yet, not until the time was right.

But Lila's condition was far worse than before, would he have enough time to get to Octo Valley?

Since they were waiting now would be a good time to check in with Sky.

Kal turned on the hero headset he was wearing.

* * *

**Octo Valley**

Inker glanced nervously at the room around him.

The room was dark, there was no power, he could also make out a few cracks in the walls.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

He, Neon, Victoria and Lynn were currently sitting in an old abandoned building in some sort of underpass.

"Yes of course, this place was abandoned long ago and since you've removed the Zapfish here, there should be no Octarian army anywhere nearby." Victoria said

"No that's not what I meant, this place looks like it could fall on us at any moment."

"Oh don't worry about that, this is a pretty low building so even if it does collapse we won't be buried under too much rubble."

"That doesn't give me confidence."

"Oh it's all normal down here in Octo Valley, don't worry about it. Has Kal said anything yet?"

"Kal has a hero headset but he can't talk to us through it he can only hear us through the hero suit, so were waiting for his texts." Inker explained.

Meanwhile Lynn sat around, twiddling her thumbs.

Inker thought she looked a bit nervous, so he went over to her side.

"Hey, if you aren't up for this you can leave. I don't want to force you into doing anything you don't want."

Lynn furiously shook her head

"No no, no need to worry about me. I owe you for rescuing the captain and everyone else so order me around as you please. I am your subordinate for today, so it is my job to sacrifice for your sake." Lynn said this with determination, she probably wanted to return the favor quickly so that she wouldn't have to worry about it in the future.

Though Lynn's obedient attitude made Inker feel more guilty about bringing her along.

Meanwhile Victoria was observing the change in Lynn's behavior, why did Lynn act so meek and obedient around Inker?

Neon suddenly stood up.

"Somebody is outside, I can hear them."

"How?"

"Shhh."

Inker was really curious as to how Neon managed to hear someone outside, but Neon was dependable when it came to fighting so he went along.

Maybe the Octarian army spotted them? Maybe they were followed?

Neon plastered a ear against the door.

She nodded and whispered "yep, someone is here and it sounds like they brought company. I hear a lot of Octarians outside."

Neon picked up her E-Liter and prepared to blast out of the door.

Inker held her back "Hold on, maybe they won't find us."

"It could just be a patrol." Lynn added

"I thought you said this place was abandoned." Inker asked Victoria

"I thought so too."

The door opened and an Octoling peeked in.

Neon immediately took aim, but Lynn hopped in front of her.

"Stop! She's from our splatoon!"

Neon and everyone else lowered their weapons.

"There you are Lynn!" the Octoling said, she then turned the other way and shouted "guys, they are in here!"

Soon, several Octolings and Octotroopers filled the room.

'_Oh great, it's her again…' _Inker thought as he recognised one of the Octolings as Eliza

Eliza made her way toward Inker.

It wasn't just her, all the Octarians accompanying her glared at Inker.

"You! I knew you were a scumbag! But to think you'd even take advantage of Lynn's obedient personality! You've reached a new low!" Eliza shouted, grabbing Inker's collar in the process.

"We won't let you strong arm our comrades into dangerous missions!" the other Octarians declared.

"Guys, there must be a misunderstanding, I'm just repaying my debt to Agent 3." Lynn desperately tried to calm down her fellow Octarians.

"There are better ways of doing that then going up against the rest of the army!" an Octoling said

"Yes, not even the captain would take on Octavia's army with such a small group. It's a good thing Eliza overheard your conversation and told all of us." an Octotrooper added.

"What's he saying?" Inker asked, since Octotroopers spoke a different language.

"None of your business! You have no right to be forcing Lynn around to do your missions!"

"He hasn't been forcing her to do anything." Victoria cut in.

Eliza looked at Victoria

"You... Victoria Holter right? I understand why you would have sympathy for this asshole. But you don't know Lynn, she's always been the kind to comply with anyone who is ranked higher than her. I don't know how high "Agent" would be, but I bet it's enough for Lynn to show her meek side"

Lynn waved her hands "no you guys have the wrong idea about me too!"

"Do we? Lynn, everyone in the splatoon looks out for each other, we know that you've always followed orders because you don't have any self confidence. Whether it's Octavia, the captain or even Claire, you've always did what they said without questioning it."

The other Octarians nodded in approval

"Ahhh… So all of you are looking out for me…." Lynn blushed slightly, he looked to the ground and smiled.

After a brief moment she recovered "No, you still have the wrong idea. Claire kept telling me to make my own choices in the past and I do, I'm choosing to repay Agent 3 now. As for my willingness to follow orders, I always thought it was logical to follow someone with a lot of experience in the field."

"They do say experience is the best teacher.." Victoria muttered

Lynn continued "The captain has told us many times in the past that trust is extremely important, so is it really that odd for me to show my trust by obeying orders? I've always followed the captain's orders and Claire's advice because I trusted them and their experience, I'm following Agent 3 now because I feel like I can trust him too."

'_Finally!'_ Inker thought _'Finally someone else who isn't blinded by the past.'_

Maybe he really could get along with this splatoon.

Just as he was thinking that, Eliza said "I still don't trust him."

"My apologies, but this really doesn't concern you."

Eliza turned her attention to Lynn

She probably expected Lynn to thank her and the rest for coming to her rescue, but Lynn was not ready to leave.

Instead she saluted to all the Octarians accompanying Eliza

"Thank you all for looking out for me, really thank you from the bottom of my heart. But this really doesn't concern you all, it's my decision and I decide to stay. You should probably head back to base now."

"Yeah yeah we get it, your choice right? But still…" Eliza and the other Octarians all glared at Inker.

'_Oh come on! What did I do now?'_

"... I don't trust Agent 3 at all."

Inker just couldn't understand why this Octoling was so persistent.

Oh wait, he killed her sister while he was bringing back the Zapfish right?

Last time Inker spoke with Eliza, she had mentioned the name "Eileen" although he hadn't heard anyone say that name before, it seemed familiar to him.

It took a while, but Inker remembered why.

'_Maybe this can help ease things out between us.'_ Inker thought

"Hey, last time you mentioned the name "Eileen" right?"

"Oh? So now you choose to remember her?"

"I don't know who she was, but I know she left behind a note in the Kelp Dome."

To show proof, Inker showed Eliza the picture he took on his squid phone.

It clearly showed the note Eileen had left behind. (For those who do not understand where this note came from, search for "SWC One-Shot collection" and read the chapter "Sisters In Arms")

"That note is probably what made me start to rethink-"

Inker didn't have time to finish his sentence, because unlike what he had expected, showing Eliza that note had the opposite effect.

"YOU BASTARD! What? Killing her wasn't enough for you!? You had to take a nice commemorative photo too!?"

Eliza went into a frenzy.

"What's next? You want a trophy to go with that?! Here! it's Eileen note! Why don't you go frame it!"

She pulled out the note from the photo and shoved it in Inker's face, before storming out of the building.

"Wait! Eliza!" the other Octarians ran after her.

Inker stood there speechless, holding the note Eliza had forced onto him.

"Did I do something wrong?"

Neon shrugged

"I think she's just overreacting." Victoria said

"But I did kill her sister."

Lynn put an hand on Inker's shoulder

"No matter what happens soldiers are always lost in battle, that much is guaranteed. You did nothing wrong."

"Hey I don't understand all this drama, but can we go now?" Neon asked

'_Way to ruin the mood?'_ everyone else thought

"We aren't going anywhere until Kal says so remember?"

"Ohhh right, I forgot. Okay then, carry on with the shouting." Neon went back to laying around.

* * *

Seeing all this through the Hero Suit's camera, Sky muttered to himself "troublesome girl…"

He then noticed the commotion outside Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack.

There was a large group of Inklings passing by, all armed with various weapons.

From shooters to rollers and blasters to chargers.

That was followed by a text from Kal.

"_Okay we are here, keep an eye on us, when the fighting starts come and find me and Lila."_

Sky looked at the horde of Inklings

'_This must be the Vanguard movement.'_

Sky went back to mission control

Cap'n Cuttlefish had just informed the others

"Ahoy Agent 3, the Vanguard movement just entered Octo Valley."

* * *

Back in the abandoned building, Inker replied:

"Got it, keep an eye on them and let us know where they go."

"Oh oh! Is it time!" Neon was bouncing in excitement.

"Hold on, we still need to wait for Kal."

"Aww, but sitting here is sooooo boring! Oh I know! I'll explore this place! Maybe I'll find another Inkzooka in a can."

"Inkzooka in a can? Oh right! Canned specials! Yeah sure you can go ahead and look around, just don't get spotted."

"Okay!"

With a skip in her step, Neon left happily.

"I'm glad she'll be gone for a while." Victoria muttered

Inker agreed "That's a bit rude, but I agree, Neon can really be a pain to deal with."

"Speaking of which, a few days ago she came and asked me to be her friend, what's with that? Oh! N-not that i'm complaining of course!" Lynn added

"Huh, that's the first I've heard of that." Inker said

"Same here, though I haven't been talking with you guys that much since we arrived." Victoria added.

Silence reigned in the room.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"It seems like Agent 1 and 2 aren't coming."

"Really? That's too bad…"

"..."

"..."

".."

"Maybe we should have gone with Neon?"

"Yeah maybe…"

* * *

**The Rig, Octo Valley**

"Hey, can one of you explain why we are here?" Kal asked

"We are retracing the steps of the first wave." Aurip replied

The second wave of Vanguards were currently making their way through the rig.

Hearing that they were retracing the previous wave's steps was not comforting, though at least it would mean that Lila would see a similar scene.

"Laven? Does this place look familiar to you?" Lila asked, still holding Kal's arm.

"Not at all."

'_Maybe she's already recalling the first wave.'_

Kal looked at the horde of Inkling in front of him.

Where they even trying to win against Octo Valley?

Kal was no military tactician, but everyone knew that if you tried to attack from the same place twice, it could never go well. It should have been common sense, yet these "Vanguards" are purposely taking the same route as the first group.

"A large industrial area that looks abandoned… Just like Wister had described, this is where the last message from the first wave came from." the lead Inkling said. "Everyone be careful, there must be Octarians nearby…"

There were

Unlike the New Squidbeak Splatoon, the Vanguard movement had no knowledge of Octo Valley and did not know that they had cameras everywhere.

Like the previous wave, they were being watched as soon as they entered the Valley.

Not too far ahead, several splatoons of Octarians waited.

Scattered on the ground was some of the clothes they had looted from the first wave.

"Seeing the stuff from their fallen brethren oughta shake them up a bit." one of the Elite Octolings had said.

Patiently, they waited.

Meanwhile, Kal checked his phone.

As expected there was no signal here, good thing he had texted everyone earlier.

"L-Laven, I don't like this anymore, I want to go home." Lila's voice was getting shakier.

Although they hadn't been attacked yet, Lila's eyes were full of fear.

'_No not yet, just a little while longer.'_

Kal waited, he wouldn't reveal the truth until after they were attacked.

"Hey guys, isn't that…"

An Inkling in front picked up a discarded jacket.

A Cycle King Jersey.

Made by Tentatek, sold only in Inkopolis…

There was more.

"Hey, That was Cy's Camo Zip Hoodie!"

"That's Mirillia's Pearl Tee!"

More Inklings recognised the clothing worn by those in the first wave.

As they sifted through the discarded gear, Lila reacted to it.

"L-Laven! I don't want to be here anymore! I want to go home!" Lila shouted

She started crying.

Kal crouched down to comfort her.

"Now now, there is nothing to worry about, I'm here Lila."

As they were distracted with the clothing, the Octarians took positions above them.

Since everyone was focused on the ground nobody bothered to look up and see the Octotroopers above them.

A few Octosnipers arrived as well, hopping onto their stationary sniping platforms.

The first one to notice was Kal, he noticed the targeting lasers of the Octosnipers, they were just like the ones he saw when they fought that saucer…

"EVERYONE! LOOK OUT!"

* * *

**Abandoned underpass, Octo Valley**

Neon came back with several cans.

"Guys! Look at all this! I've got an Inkzooka! A Bubbler! And a Bomb rush!"

"What are those?" Victoria asked

"Hmm? They are specials! You've never used a special before?"

"The army doesn't have those."

"Oh! Well you'll like them, they last a short time but they are really strong! See this."

Neon held up the canned Inkzooka "This shoots big tornado things that can cover large amounts of turf and instantly splat anyone! Then there's this."

Neon held the Bomb rush "This lets you toss lots and lots of bombs for a few seconds without worrying about ink supply."

Neon showed the Bubbler "Finally this makes you invulnerable for a short period."

That last one seemed familiar to Victoria.

"Give the bubbler to Lynn." Inker said

"Huh? Why? I'm the one who found it!"

"You are the only one here who has a special already, you have Kraken remember?"

'_Kraken? Is that her giant squid form that Octotrooper mentioned back then?' _Lynn wondered.

"Why are you giving me the bubbler?" Lynn asked

"Just in case you get into trouble."

"No, I am a normal Octoling, I would not make good use of this."

"Just take it, I don't want to lose you to the other Octarians."

"...ohh I see, so you don't trust my abilities…." Lynn said with a dejected expression.

"No no! Not at all, rather you are like Captain Vale's right hand Octoling, if you got splatted here she'd be pissed." Inker explained

"Oh… Well then I guess I can take it…."

"You can only use it once so don't waste it."

Victoria look a look at the canned specials

"Well I think i'm better at shooting than tossing bombs, I'll take the Inkzooka thing."

"Huh? You too? But I found these!" Neon protectively clutched the remaining two specials.

"Neon just give it up, this is a team effort so let Victoria take one." Inker said

"Awww, I wanted to use all three along with Kraken, I wanted to charge in with Kraken then attack with the Inkzooka and Bomb rush while protected by a bubbler…"

Neon reluctantly gave Victoria the Inkzooka.

When Inker eyed the remaining Bomb rush, Neon held it protectively against her chest.

Inker didn't say anything and waited for Neon to hand over the can.

"... Okay fine you can have it! But next time you go look for specials yourself!"

Around this time, Sky's voice came through again.

"Kal and the Vanguard movement are being attacked at the rig."

"Hear that? Let's go." Inker said

"Wooohooo!" Neon squealed with delight

They had only made it two steps out of the building when Eliza and the other Octarians showed up again.

'_Her again?'_ Inker thought

"You can hate me all you want later, we don't have time right now." Inker said.

Eliza ignored Inker and spoke to Lynn.

"We are going with you."

"Ehh?! Why? You really don't need to."

"Look, you might trust Agent 3, but we don't. If you think we are going to leave you in his hands then guess again."

"No no, you shouldn't worry so much about me, head back to the lair before the captain gets cross with you again."

"We've already spoke with the captain, so we can stay and help you without worrying about anything."

"Let them tag along, we could use the extra help." Inker told Lynn.

Eliza glared at Inker once again.

"Let me make this clear, we are here to make sure nothing happens to Lynn and Victoria. I couldn't care less if anything happened to you or your green friend."

Inker sighed "Yeah alright, you've made that quite clear. Now come on we need to hurry."

* * *

**The Rig, Octo Valley**

"Everyone scatter! The Octarians have the high ground!"

"Hey stop covering my ink!"

"I can't help it! There is no space left!"

As the Octarians rained fire upon them, the Vanguard movement members went into a panic.

They were incredibly disorganized, first off they all had different ink colours so they couldn't work as a team and could splat each other on accident.

They also had no clue what they were doing, some fired back at the Octolings and Octotroopers, others ran to safer spots.

They also had no idea how to deal with Octoballs and shielded Octotroopers aside from a few smarter ones who shot them from behind, only to be picked off by other Octarians.

Kal and Lila were in the back of the group when it happened, after making sure he and Lila were in a safe spot, Kal pointed at the Vanguard movement fighting the Octarian army.

"Look at that Lila, does it seem familiar?"

"No! Nonononono I didn't see that before!"

"Take another look! This has happened before!"

"No I don't want to!"

Lila shut her eyes and cried, wetting Kal's sleeve.

Kal violently shook off Lila who was now crying her eyes out.

He took her head and pointed it at the scene before them.

"Take a good look, that is what happened before, that is how you lost your family!"

"NO! No I haven't! Why are you doing this to me Laven? Why!?"

"I'm not Laven, Laven is dead, along with your parents, it's time you accepted it and moved on."

"No! Don't say that Laven! You aren't dead because you are right here! Right Laven?"

Lila forced herself to smile, looking at Kal's face.

Tears were streaming down her face.

Kal didn't like this, but he had to keep going.

"Lila, do I look like Laven to you?" he asked

"Ahhhhh! You aren't Laven?!"

"Do I look like Laven? I've always been Kalus, I'm not your brother!"

"Waaaaaaa!"

Lila cried loudly, she shoved Kal away from her.

"Laven! Where did you gooooooo!"

"No wait!"

Too late Lila ran off.

Kal was about to give chase, until he noticed a targeting laser pointed at him.

"Gah!"

He barely had time to jump back.

'_That was close! I'm going to get splatted if i'm not careful. Lila? Where did you go?'_

He had lost sight of Lila in the chaos, she might have already been splatted.

'_Dammit! Inker if you are here I need your help now!'_

What was he thinking, bringing Lila here?

He shouldn't have done something so rash on the off chance that it might all work out.

Ignoring the other Vanguard members, Kal searched for Lila, fending off the occasional Octarian soldier every now and then.

* * *

Not too far from the fighting, Inker, Neon, Victoria, Lynn, Eliza and a few other Octarians arrived.

They had started out as a group of four, but now there was enough Octarians with them to form three squads.

Inker wanted the Octarians accompanying them to try attack the enemy Octarians from behind.

He was about to tell Eliza that, but then realised there was no way she'd listen.

"Hey Lynn, can you get Eliza and the others to try going around the rig and hitting the other Octarians from behind?" Inker whispered

Eliza would listen to Lynn and Lynn would listen to him.

"Ahh yes of course."

Lynn and Eliza broke off from the group, leaving just Inker, Neon and Victoria.

"Alright now, Sky do you know where Lila and Kal are?" Inker asked through his hero suit.

"About that, things aren't looking too good, Lila has run away from Kal, now Kal is trying to find her but he's pinned down with the rest of the Vanguard movement." Sky reported

"Tell us that earlier next time, we'll go for Kal first."

"So I can let loose now?" Neon asked, waiting expectantly for Inker's anwser.

Inker did want Neon to charge in and get splatted, but he did see her do similar things in the past and emerge unharmed.

It's not like she'd enjoy being held back.

"Yeah sure go ahead, just don't leave us behind." Inker said

"ALRIGHT! heeeeeyyyyyyyAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" With her E-Liter held high, Neon ran full speed towards the rig.

"Come on, let's not get left behind." Inker said.

"Right."

Inker and Victoria chased after Neon.

Neon did the usual, she left a squid beakon behind while running ahead, then she found several spots for sniping. She left a Squid beakon at each spot she found and super jumped between them.

She also seemed to know that Octarians had trouble shoot at targets up high, so she made sure to always stand on high ground.

Inker and Victoria had similar fighting styles, as the Hero Shot and Octo Shot were similar themselves.

Unfortunately they did not have the same ink colour, so they had to separate shortly after reaching the Vanguard movement.

There were a few Vanguard Inklings running from Octoballs, desperately trying to splat them while running on uncovered turf.

Inker saw this, he knew that Octoballs had to be submerged in ink first before being splatted.

He was trying to reach Kal, but he wasn't about to leave these Inklings to die.

Inker fired his Hero Shot at the ground behind the Inklings.

The Octoballs immediately diverted their course to avoid his blue ink.

Inker swam after them, tossing a burst bomb ahead of them.

The running Inklings looked back and saw Inker finish off the Octoballs trapped in his ink.

"You need to stop them from rolling if you want to splat them!" Inker told the Vanguard Inklings.

"Oh, okay I got it, thanks…. Hey wait a sec I don't remember seeing you before..."

"That doesn't matter, I'm here to help. Where are the other Vanguard members?"

"I don't know, we all scattered when the fighting began."

"Oh alright then, hey you guys should start heading back to Inkopolis or finding the other Vanguards."

"Yeah alright."

The two Vanguard members Inker started making their way out of the rig as Inker went further into the lair.

Meanwhile Victoria's side wasn't going so well.

There was two Vanguard members backed up into a corner, four shielded Octotroopers were advancing on them.

The two Vanguard Inklings emptied their ink tanks trying to splat the shielded Octotroopers.

"It's the end! Why did we come here?!" one shouted

"I thought it would be safer if we stayed in a corner! Sorry Deep but this is it."

With a wall of Shielded Octotroopers in front of them, the two Inklings swam around in their ink swimming around in hopes of surviving a bit longer.

Victoria didn't feel like rescuing the Vanguard members, since they were technically her enemy but maybe they knew where Kal was.

Victoria inked the Shielded Octotroopers from behind, splatting them all quickly.

However this only lead to her being fired upon by the two Inklings she just helped.

"What are you doing?! I just saved you!"

"Yeah sure, I think you just wanted credit for splatting us!"

"If I wanted to do that, I would have waited for you to be splatted first!" Victoria shouted as she swam around, dodging ink.

"As if anyone would believe an Octoling!"

'_I knew it, these Vanguards are idiots.'_

Resisting the urge to test the Inkzooka on those two, Victoria tossed a splat bomb at them, both Inklings immediately leapt out of the way, Victoria used this chance to run.

'_So the Vanguards won't let me talk, how else can I get to Kal?'_ she wondered

'_Maybe Inker would have a better shot at reaching him…'_

Avoiding the Vanguards and the hostile Octarians, Victoria made her way to Neon.

"Hey hey! It's me." Victoria shouted when Neon instinctively aimed at her.

Neon rapidly snapped her E-Liter away, hitting an Octotrooper instead.

"Don't sneak up on me like that, it's hard to tell you apart from the others."

For some reason that made Victoria a little angry, but she had other things to worry about.

"Give me your headset for a while."

"Why? Hey give that back!"

Victoria yanked away Neon's hero headset and put it on.

She couldn't speak through it, so she just hoped that Sky or Inker would say something useful.

Although all she heard was Sky warning Inker what side the Octarians were coming from as well as Inker reminding Sky to keep an eye out for Kal and Lila.

'_Oh right Lila.'_

Victoria had been so focused on finding Kal that she had almost forgotten about the little girl.

"Here take it back." Victoria gave Neon her headset back and swam away.

Sky couldn't find Lila, nor could Inker and Kal.

There was the possibility that she was splatted already, but not the only one, Victoria had another idea.

Back when she was helping Callie, Marie, Sky and Neon reach Melanin prison, she had waited in a blindspot at this very same lair, where no camera could see.

Since Sky could easily watch the whole lair using said cameras, the only reason for him to have not found Lila was if Lila was hiding in one of the blindspots.

Lila was brainwashed for a while, so it was likely that she knew where the blindspots were.

Victoria took care to avoid everyone she could, both Octarian or Inkling.

There were a few other Inklings losing to the Octarians, but Victoria knew that saving them would only make them turn on her, so she left them to their fates.

Then she found out that she was right, Lila was sitting in a far corner of the rig, in the same blindspot Victoria had hidden in before.

Lila was trembling, sitting on the ground and hugging her knees.

"Not dead, not dead, not dead, they are still out there, yes still alive, Mom is still alive, dad is still alive, Laven is still alive. They aren't gone, I don't want them to be gone, They are still here." Lila muttered to herself.

Her gaze was focused on the scenes in front of her, the sight of Inklings running from Octoballs, being picked off by Octosnipers and executed by Octolings brought back memories she didn't want to see. Lila didn't even notice Victoria approaching her.

"They are still here, I need to find are still here, I need to find are still here, I need to find are still here, I need to find are still here, I need to find are still here, I need to find are still here, I need to find are still here, I need to find them." Lila repeated over and over.

'_She really isn't well, what was Kal thinking bringing her down here? Maybe spending so much time with an insane Inkling made Kal insane himself?'_

Victoria stared at the broken Lila.

Could she even help her? What did Kal even plan on doing in the first place?

'_Was it revenge? But it's impossible for someone to take revenge on the whole army. Kal should know that.'_

He did, but he wasn't here to tell Victoria that.

To Victoria, seeking revenge was the natural thing to do when someone killed your loved ones.

She had experienced it when her parents died.

She had also seen it happen with both Captain Vale and Eliza.

Vale wanted revenge on Octavia for giving her beloved subordinates a suicide mission.

Eliza wanted revenge on Inker for splatting her sister.

But was it the same for Lila?

'_Lila was brainwashed when she got her family killed, maybe she blames herself for letting it happen. She was hurting herself before...'_

Victoria sat next to Lila and put a hand on her shoulder.

'Hmm? EEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" Lila let loose a blood curdling scream upon seeing Victoria.

"Calm down, calm down, I'm not here to hurt you." Victoria said, quickly checking around to make sure nobody was drawn to that shout.

Lila backed away from Victoria

"Who are you?"

Victoria took off her Octoling goggles

"Don't you remember me? I'm a friend of a friend."

Victoria saw it in Lila's eyes, she recognized her from before.

Images of a captured Victoria shone in Lila's mind.

"Noo! That didn't happen, I never saw you before!"

It didn't matter what she said, Victoria could tell that she recognized her.

That means she remembers everything she did while brainwashed.

"Hey do you know where Kal is?" Victoria asked

"Kal?"

Lila smacked a hand onto her head.

Her head hurt.

Because the name "Kal" sounded so familiar

In her fake reality Kal was Laven, thus Kal didn't exist.

Yet she could remember someone called Kal.

Someone who reminded her of Laven, someone who comforted her when she was feeling down.

"Kal is….."

She couldn't say it.

"Kal doesn't exist, Laven did. Kal is my imagination. Yes that must be it." Lila couldn't even keep her thoughts in her head.

Victoria didn't know why Lila was so desperately trying to replace Laven with Kal, why couldn't she just accept it?

No matter, she was going to get information out of her even if it means forcing her to accept Kal and Laven and two different Inklings.

"If he isn't real, then how would I know him?" Victoria asked

"No! Stop asking questions! You aren't real either!"

Perhaps she wanted Victoria to leave so that she could stay in her fantasy world, or maybe she genuinely believed that Victoria wasn't real, because Lila waved her hands at Victoria as if to fan away an insect.

Instead all she managed to do was weakly slap Victoria a few times.

"If I'm not real, then how come you can touch me?"

"NOOOOOOO! Get away, you are here to kill me aren't you? Yes that must be it, Laven would never be friends with an Octoling!"

"I'm not Laven's friend, I'm Kal's."

"Noooo! Stop saying that name!"

'_If she reacts like that, then she must also remember Kal saving me from the intruding Octolings in Inkopolis, or maybe when I showed up with Kal at her house.'_

Victoria wasn't going to stop here.

"Kal and Laven are two different Inklings, one is dead, the other is fighting for his life right now."

"Stop saying that!" Lila was in tears.

"One was part of the Vanguard movement, the other was against it."

"Stop it! Please!"

"One died with the Vanguard movement's first wave, the other is still here."

"That's not true!"

"One is someone you loved, the other is someone I…. want to help."

"No! I don't even know you!"

"You do, I know you do, think back to what happened after the first wave of Vanguard Inklings."

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

"If you do, it will be much appreciated."

Lila went quiet.

"It's a motivating phrase isn't it? A familiar one as well."

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Lila shouted

"You didn't want to do anything of those things, you wanted to save Laven and your family, but they made you lead them into a trap."

"THAT NEVER HAPPENED!"

"It did and its happening again right now. Take a good look in front of you, no don't just look, listen, listen to the sounds of war."

Victoria forcefully held open Lila's eyelids making her see the ink that was splattered everywhere.

An Inkling ran by, being chased by some Octoballs, one noticed Victoria and Lila and rolled towards them.

Victoria quickly splatted the Octoball.

"Right now both Inklings and Octarians are dying, I honestly don't care for the Vanguard movement, but there is one Inkling who I want to save, you and I both know him."

"Laven doesn't know any Octolings!"

"Not Laven! Think! Who else seems just like Laven to you? Who was trapped with you in Melanin prison?! Who came back to Octo Valley to save you?!"

"Laven"

"Does Laven know Agent 3?"

"Ahhhhh!"

After one last scream, Lila muttered "Those stories… Who told me those stories?"

Those stories she heard in Melanin prison.

One of a hero saving Inkopolis from an Octarian threat.

The stories that gave her hope when she was imprisoned and beaten.

Stories that were comforting amongst the cries for help.

No, not just those stories.

There was someone there, she didn't just hear those stories out of nowhere.

Someone was there, someone who gave her a warm hug in the cold cells of Melanin prison.

Someone who stood in front of her when the captain of the guard tried to take her away.

Someone who assured her everything would be okay.

Who was that?

There was an image of Laven in her head, but something was different.

Why was his hair becoming red?

Why was his eyes turning brown?

Why was he splitting into two Inklings?

Was there two Lavens?

No it wasn't that, there was someone else.

Someone who's actions matched those of Laven's.

Lila stared at the scene in front of her.

Inklings fighting Octarians, the Octarian army being at an advantage and the Vanguard movement being disorganized.

She had seen all of that before.

It was all coming back to her now.

Being taken from Melanin prison, being brainwashed by the Octarian army.

Being told to create the Vanguard movement by Acting Leader Octavia.

Being told to bring her family and everyone else she could into Octo Valley, where they would be splatted.

Being unable to do anything but watch as an Octoling shot her brother.

She couldn't keep pushing those memories away now.

Lila had been silent for sometime, Victoria watched as she stared blankly ahead.

"Hey you remember don't you? Look tell me where Kal is, I'll go get him."

"No, no it's hopeless." Lila said

"?"

"It's hopeless, it's the Octarian army, everything goes according to their plan, you can't beat them. They wanted to ture Agent 3 to Melanin, they wanted me to be brought back to Inkopolis and they wanted to create the Vanguard movement, they've always succeeded. Nobody can beat them…."

Lila had known the Octarians plans after being brainwashed into helping them.

She had seem them string along Kal, Agent 3, Laven and everyone who joined the Vanguard movement.

How could someone find closure if something so powerful was your enemy?

"Is that what you think? Well maybe some things did go the way they expected, but not always. They wanted to capture me twice now and failed both times, they wanted to get rid of a rogue captain and failed, they also want to splat Kal and the rest fo the Vanguard movement today, if you think they'll succeed, then let them buy you time and run, run back to Inkopolis."

"!" That last phrase sounded familiar to Lila.

Kal was going to be splatted? With the rest of the Vanguard movement?

_ **"Lila, you need to run, just run anywhere, try to get back to Inkopolis."** _

_ **"But what about you?"** _

_ **"Just go!"** _

That was the last thing she saw of Laven.

"Nooo.."

She could see Laven waving goodbye and fading away in the distance.

"If I run…"

She could see her parents Wister and Mauve waving goodbye and following Laven.

"Then it will be just like before…"

She could see a second Laven turning away and following them.

"Don't leave me! I'm all alone without you!"

The images of Laven and Kal overlapped with each in Lila's mind.

Kal was not Laven, yet he was just as kind and gentle as him.

In her mind, Kal was Laven.

Lila was not going to lose Laven a second time.

Victoria didn't know what Lila was thinking, but it was clear that she wasn't going to run away.

Lila didn't have a weapon and Victoria didn't have anything to spare.

Except…

"Here take this."

Victoria gave Lila the canned Inkzooka she got from Neon.

"You don't want to run, you want to fight right? Or do you want to make things different this time? Whatever it is go for it, take that Inkzooka and clear a path for Kal and the others."

Lila stared wordlessly at the canned Inkzooka.

She looked at Victoria, then at the ink flying about in the distance.

'_What was I thinking? What was I doing?' Lila thought to herself_

She was starting to cry again.

'_Laven is gone, gone because of the Vanguard movement that I created for the Octarians. He's gone because I couldn't do anything but run. Laven told me to run, so I kept running, even after I reached Inkopolis, I ran from the truth.'_

Lila stood up

'_I can't keep running, If I do i'll lose Laven again. I couldn't do anything before, but now is a different story.'_

She still referred to Kal as Laven, but she was starting to see him as someone else.

"I can only remember where I left him, hopefully he's still nearby."

With a look of determination in her eyes, Lila activated the Inkzooka and Charged into the fray, with Victoria watching her back.

She was not going to lose Laven a second time.

Kal was separated from the rest of the Vanguard movement.

He wasn't that much of a fighter, so all he could do was barely stay alive.

He also didn't have Inker's experience, he could deal with shielded Octotroopers but had trouble learning how to beat Octoballs.

By the time he figured out how to do so, he found himself dueling with an Octoling.

Kal imagined that if he was someone like Inker, Neon or Victoria, he would have no trouble with this Octoling, but he wasn't.

They traded ink and hurled bombs but it was Kal on the defensive side, he backed up to give himself some breathing room and recharge his ink while the Octoling covered turf.

That was when a large tornado of purple ink washed away the Octoling, along with any other nearby Octarians.

It might have even caught some Inklings if there were any nearby.

"Laven!" Kal heard someone shout.

A teary eyed Lila appeared, holding an Inkzooka that looked far too big for her to carry.

"Wahhhh!" Lila cried as she shut her eyes and fired the Inkzooka as many times as possible, before it expired.

Lila kept squeezing the trigger, it took her a moment to realise the Inkzooka was empty.

She opened her eyes.

"Laven!"

She threw away the Inkzooka and ran over to Kal, pinning him in her embrace.

Behind her, Victoria also showed up, she eyed the discarded Inkzooka.

"That's quite a lot of firepower, a shame I didn't get to use it myself." Victoria commented.

"Victoria!"

Victoria smiled.

"Hi Kal, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thanks to you and Lila."

Kal turned his attention to Lila

"See, i'm not Laven."

Lila shook her head.

"No"

"Lila, you can't keep running from the truth."

"I know, just a little longer Laven."

It would seem that Lila already knew that she was talking to Kal, but maybe she wanted to see him as Laven for just a while longer.

"Hey, is it just me, or are the Octarians backing off?" Victoria commented.

Kal and Lila both looked around.

The fighting had slowed down.

There was much less Octarians fighting the Vanguard movement now.

"Yeah, what happened?"

"Where did the Octarian army go?"

Inker and Neon arrived as well.

"Kal, I've been looking for you." he saw Victoria there as well "Looks like you got here first."

Neon pouted "Where did all the Octarians go? I wasn't finished yet!"

"Sky, Cap'n, do you know where?" Inker asked

"Hold on, give me a second."

Back at mission control Cap'n Cuttlefish and Sky jumped between cameras searching for the Octarians.

"Found them, it seems like they have turned their focus towards your Octarian allies." Sky said

"Wait what?" Inker turn to leave immediately.

"Hey hold on! Where are you going?" Kal asked

"I'm going to find Lynn and the others, I brought her along, which in turn made other Octarians follow. I'm not leaving them to fend for themselves."

Neon cheered "Alright! Lets go!"

"I'm with you too." Victoria said.

"Victoria…" Kal began, but Victoria cut him off.

"Kal you still have some unfinished business right? Finish up there and we'll see each other afterwards."

'_Wait what did I say? What did I mean by that last part?!' _Victoria thought.

"... Yeah alright. Come on Lila, let's go find Deep, Aurip and everyone else." looking over his shoulder, Kal left with Lila to round up the surviving Vanguard members.

Inker, Neon and Victoria had barely made it out of the rig when they ran into Lynn and a squad of Octotroopers and Octolings.

"Agent 3! You are here, we need to leave quickly, the Octarian army seems to have gotten new orders to take us prisoner."

"Lynn? how did you manage to get away?" Inker asked

"I distracted them, then used the bubble thing you gave me earlier, Eliza and a few Octolings volunteered to stay behind so we could escape."

'_Not her again… Well if that Octoling is staying behind to protect Lynn and the others…'_

"Alright, i'm going to get her."

"U-umm, is that a good idea Agent 3? It's Eliza after all, after what you did to her sister she'd be laughing about leaving you behind."

"I didn't do anything wrong, you told me that didn't you?"

"Ahh yes, yes I did, I shall help out."

"No need, you and the others should head back to Captain Vale's lair, we'll meet up again soon. That's an order from me."

Hearing the word "order" Lynn immediately agreed.

"Neon, Victoria, you should go too."

"No way! I haven't been able to fight like this in forever! I'm going with you!" Neon protested

"I might not have known them for very long, but Octarians don't leave each other behind, I'll go too." Victoria added.

"Even if both of you go, it won't matter, since we have different colours of ink we can't help each other out so you'll just get in my way. I'll be right back!"

Inker ran before Neon and Victoria could protest.

He hoped that Neon wouldn't follow him.

With that many Octarians in one place, there is only one way Inker could rescue Eliza and her squad.

His Hero suit could save him a few times, he had only been splatted once before, so it should allow him to respawn again.

The Octarians there would definitely want a shot at him.

"Alright, is that everyone?" Deep asked.

There was over thirty Inklings who entered Octo Valley as part of the Vanguard movement, now less than ten remain.

"Well we took some losses, but we won! Let's keep pushing forward!"

"Pushing forward!? You want to go even further after losing so many of your friends?" Kal exclaimed

"Crushing Octo Valley is what the Vanguard movement was made for, if we turn back now, everyone who died would have died for nothing."

Lila stepped forward.

"You are wrong, the Vanguard movement was not created for that purpose, everyone who was a part of it was fooled."

The remaining Vanguard Inklings were all visibly confused, so was Kal.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"The Vanguard movement's roots lie with the Octarian army… Actually this deserves to be on the news… so i'll explain when we get back to Inkopolis."

The Vanguard Inklings looked at each other.

'_Their organization's roots were with the Octarian army? What did Lila mean by that?' Kal wondered_

'_Also did Lila's tone change?'_

"Please, can we all head back before more of us are splatted?" Lila asked.

"..."

The other Vanguard members looked around, seeing each other in their tired stats, they couldn't deny that they were barely standing as they were.

In the end, the Vanguard Inklings agreed and they returned to Inkopolis.

On their way back, Kal thanked Cap'n Cuttlefish and Sky as he passed Cuttlefish's shack.

As for Lila, she stayed on her guard until she reached Inkopolis.

When she did, she finally let go of Kal's arm.

She had done it, she had saved her brother.

Lila still saw Kal as Laven, to her, she had just changed past events to one where she was able to save her dear brother.

Lila turned to look at Laven, but to her surprise she saw Laven fade away and found herself looking at Kal instead.

'_Right, Laven is…'_

It was a bit late now, but Lila felt sad.

She wouldn't see them again.

Lila burst into tears, surprising Kal.

"Lila? Lila what's wrong?"

"Laven… Laven is…. gone"

"Huh?"

'_When did Lila? Why is she suddenly… how?'_ Kal's mind was full of questions.

'_She was with Victoria at some point, did Victoria do something to make her accept reality?' _It was the only explanation Kal could think of.

Silently, he thanked Victoria and decided that he would join her along with Inker and Neon once the day was over.

Kal comforted Lila, but a moment later Lila pushed him away.

"What's wrong?" Kal asked

"I'm fine, I just need some time…. Can you please take me home?"

"I'm not your brother you know."

"I know, just for a little longer, can you keep being Laven for a while longer?" Lila said between tears.

"..."

Well as long as it was "a little longer" Kal was okay with it.

Besides, who would turn down a sad looking child.

"Okay, just a while longer."

"Thanks, when we get back, I have something I need to tell everyone."

* * *

**The Rig, Octo Valley**

Inker had circled the rig a few times before running into Octocopters.

They appeared to be searching for someone, Inker down two and swam around, looking for the remains of Eliza's squad.

He heard a call that he could not understand, then noticed the Octocopters were all flying towards one area.

Inker followed them, soon he saw Eliza and three other Octolings.

They were all that was left.

As they ran from the pursuing Octocopters, Inker arrived, downing the majority of the Octocopters and letting the rest escape.

Eliza and the other Octolings stopped.

Predictably, Eliza was not too fond to see Inker.

"What are you doing here?" Eliza asked

"I'm here to help."

"I don't need your help."

"You mean you don't want it, look this was my mission, so I'm going to make sure all of you make it out safely."

"Go worry about Lynn or the others, I got this handled."

"They've all made it out, you're all that remains, head back to the lair I can hold them off."

"You're an idiot, those copters were scouts you know. They've probably alerted the rest of the army, how can you possibly fight off that many?"

"I won't, but I can draw them away."

Inker handed Eliza the note that she had shoved into his face earlier.

"If you are still mad at me, that's fine. But for now you should all retreat."

"Why are you doing this?" Eliza asked

"I don't like the way Octarians and Inklings are always at each other's necks. I want us to live in harmony."

"That's impossible."

"Maybe, or maybe not, I'm still going to try regardless."

"You really are a fool."

"Haha! Well maybe I am, but today this fool is making sure you live to see another day. Fall back now, I'll see you at the lair tomorrow!"

With that Inker left in the direction of the approaching army.

"How about we even the odds a little! I'll be your opponent!" Inker shouted.

With that he activated the Bomb rush he took from Neon, tossing a barrage of Splat bombs at the hostile Octarians.

As the Octarians scattered and focused solely on Inker, he ran in the opposite direction of Eliza's squad.

He tried to splat the least amount of Octarians as possible, while holding out for as long as he could.

In the end, it was impossible for one Inkling to take on the whole army.

Of course Inker knew that.

As soon as he was splatted he found himself respawning at Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack.

The Hero suit had used up another "extra life"

But what was the point of extra lives if you don't use em?

Cap'n Cuttlefish came bursting out of his shack.

"Agent 3? You got splatted didn't ya? You know the Hero suit can't handle more than three respawns! One more and it's done for!"

"I got it cap'n, I'll be careful next time"

* * *

**Inkopolis**

Less than an hour after the Vanguard movement returned, a message was sent to everyone who was following the movement on any form of social media.

There was going to be an important announcement in half an hour.

After bringing Kal back from Octo Valley, Lila felt some sort of closure knowing that she had done something different this time, thus she returned to her senses.

At the house that once belonged to Lila's family, Lila and Kal were setting up Laven's laptop to start livestreaming to Huetube.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kal asked

"Yes, everyone needs to know, otherwise more Inklings will end up like my family."

Lila's was always considered somewhat of a prodigy, not only growing fast but being exceptionally smart. She easily remembered everything.

Everything from Melanin prison

Everything the Octarians did to her

Everything she did for the Octarians.

And most importantly, everything the Octarians had planned for the Vanguard movement.

"Well it's your choice, you are live in ten, get ready." Kal said as he sat to the side.

Since its creation, the Vanguard movement went viral online.

They may have only sent less than a hundred members to Octo Valley so far, but there were creatures from all over the world following the Vanguard movement.

That day, they all saw Lila's message.

"Hello, my name is Lila Fields and I was a victim of the Octarian squidnappings.

Most of you believe that it was my family and the family of Bogs Mire that started this movement, but you are wrong.

It was my story, and the story of the other victims that started the Vanguard movement.

But the truth is, I had been deceiving you.

As you can see, the Octarians tortured me." Lila said, showing the numerous scars she had from the boiling pit.

"That was why they chose me, I looked innocent, I was a victim, nobody would suspect that I was working for them.

The Octarians, they twisted my mind, they made me do things I didn't want to do.

They made me a spectator watching someone else control my body.

Under their influence I had my family start the Vanguard movement

But it wasn't my idea, it was the Octarians'.

The Octarian leader wanted someone to create the Vanguard movement, so that we would leave the safety of Inkopolis and fall into the trap that was Octo Valley.

In doing that, the Octarians would be at an advantage, they would cull our population, obtain our weapons, and find ways to disguise themselves as us.

We were stupid and fell right into their hands, I even led my family to their deaths."

Lila wiped away a tear, she still cried at the thought of losing Laven.

"And not just my family, but everyone who was part of the first wave and everyone who died during the second.

Their deaths are on me, because I created the Vanguard movement for the Octarians.

I'm sorry.

But let me make this clear, we cannot beat the Octarian army in Octo Valley, but they also can't beat us on the surface.

The Vanguard movement will only lead to the loss of more lives, therefore it must end."

Lila had one final message

"Stay away from Octo Valley, or you might become their puppet like me."

She ended the broadcast.

Minutes later, the internet was blowing up with stories about the Vanguard movement and how it was actually a plot by the Octarians, news stations all over Inkopolis began pumping out their own reports.

Lila sat in her room one last time, looking around.

She could not afford to live here on her own, so it was the last time she would see her childhood home.

"Well it's done, are you sure you'll be okay?" Kal asked.

"Yes, thanks a lot Laven."

"I'm not Laven."

Lila laughed "I know, i've gotten used to calling you that."

"Please stop calling me Laven."

"Okay then."

Lila hugged Kal, but it was different from the way she hugged him while insane.

She didn't hug him out of desperation, but out of gratitude.

"Thank you Kal. Thank you for looking after me after I lost Laven and thank you for comforting me at Melanin prison."

In Lila's eyes, she saw Laven's silhouette fade away from Kal's figure.

The two were very different after all, Kal was Kal and Laven was Laven.

Lila stared out the window and off into the sunset.

She could see three Inklings there.

Wister, Mauve and Laven Fields.

Her family…

'_Dad, Mom, Laven, I'll be fine from now on, so please don't worry about me.'_

The three Inklings smiled and waved goodbye, Lila waved back.

"Ummm, who are you waving too?" Kal asked

"Huh? Oh nobody, don't worry about it."

Lila watched as the images of her parents faded away.

Although she was smiling, she was sad.

Tears trickled down her face again.

Lila wiped them away.

The images of Wister and Mauve were gone now, all that was left was Laven.

'_Dear brother!'_

The image of Laven smiled.

'_You're on your own now.'_

'_I know! I'll be fine, i'll miss you Laven!'_

'_So will I.'_

* * *

That day, the Vanguard movement came to an end.

Since Lila was back to normal, Kal no longer needed to stay by her side.

Arcus and the IPD had some questions for Lila, as did Dr Asio who wanted to know more about the effects of Octarian brainwashing.

After a bit of questioning, Lila was moved to an orphanage, since she was too young to even play Turf Wars, let alone make money by herself..

Kal promised he would visit her again someday.

For now he was free again and Lila was saved from the brink of insanity.

  


* * *

**OCs from part 6: Revolution (Chapters 26-30)**

**Inklings:**

**Inker Cetamari**: Blue Inkling boy, the New Squidbeak Splatoon's star agent. Despite finding himself in more and more situations where he is forced to fight the Octarians, Inker still holds the idea that maybe the two races could live peacefully. He is a skilled fighter, likely due to his experience as Agent 3 and a compassionate individual who would prefer putting only himself in harm's way to help others. (also known as Agent 3)

Likes: Turf Wars, helping others, hanging out with his friends.

Dislikes: Pointless conflict

**Kalus Kogia**: Red Inkling boy, Inker's best friend/ childhood friend. At first Kalus was pretty much your average Inkling, having lived an easy life in Inkopolis. He used to think of the Octarians as nothing but the bad guys, and was somewhat arrogant at first. It was not until the events of Behind Enemy Lines when Kal learned that Octo Valley was falling apart, since then he grew to be more compassionate and tries to share the joy of living in Inkopolis, becoming similar to Inker in a way. However Kalus lacks Inker's combat skill and idealism.(also known as Kal)

Likes: Inkopolis, Squid Sisters, normal life

Dislikes: Trouble, problems.

**Neon: **Bright green Inkling girl, a friend of Inker, Kal and Sky. Neon's personality is as bright as her colour, she is loud, cheerful and carefree. Neon is not one to plan ahead, prefering to act on instinct, which somehow works out for her. Although she pretends to forget and not care for her mistakes, Neon is actually hiding all her negative emotions and sometimes even regrets being herself, she also secretly looks up to her friends for being more "normal" than her. Despite her personality, Neon is an amazing fighter, not only is she perfectly accurate with Chargers, she is even on par with Captain Vale in hand to hand combat.

Likes: Fighting, chargers, teasing her friends, joking around.

Dislikes: Mind games, lockdowns, mistakes.

**Sky: **Cyan Inkling boy, the youngest of his friend group. Sky is self aware, knowing exactly where he stands in life. Sky is the opposite of Neon as he always thinks and plans first before acting. However since Sky tends to act only on certainties, he tends to be bad at fast paced combat where quick decisions matter most, so he prefers to stay on the sidelines and have a low sense of presence. He sometimes wishes he had Inker or Neon's combat skill so that he could do more to help his friends when trouble arises, but for now he is content with helping them out as their mission control. He also wants to learn the Octarian language so that Inklings will be able to communicate with lesser Octarian species.

Likes: Being safe and alive

Dislikes: Danger, risks

**Lila Fields**: Purple Inkling girl. Lila is an impressionable 11 year old girl, she grew out of her squid form much earlier than the average Inkling and was considered gifted. Due to being different, Lila was an outcast who was kept close to her family at all times, she knew hardly anyone outside of her family and grew attached to her older brother Laven.

Due to her dependance on her brother Laven, she could not cope with his death, first she pretended that the Vanguard movement never happened, when that failed she began to see Kal as her deceased brother Laven. Finally, after saving Kal from being splatted and managing to push back the Octarian army, Lila gains enough closure to accept Laven's death and move on, revealing her actions as an Octarian spy and accepting her fate.

Likes: Friendly creatures, family, Laven

Dislikes: bullies, the boiling pit.

**Laven Fields (deceased): **Purple inkling boy. Laven was born and raised in Inkopolis, thus he is accustomed to the fun and fair environment there, he has little knowledge of anything outside of Inkopolis, this includes Octo valley. Laven was happy living in Inkopolis, easily making friends and happily living his youth, he also cares deeply for his little sister Lila, often comforting her and cheering her up when she was still a squid. Apparently he was the only one Lila had ever gotten close to, which is why Lila loves and cares for him so much and vice versa.

Laven was killed as part of the Vanguard movement's first wave.

Likes: Blasters, Inkopolis, Turf wars, Lila

Dislikes: Octarians, bystanders, torture.

**Minor characters:**

**Deep: **Green Inkling boy, Deep is one of Laven's friends. He is tall and has his hair swept back. Deep is usually seen with his friend Aurip, the two are both members of the Vanguard movement and appear well acquainted with Laven's family.

**Aurip: **Pink Inkling boy: Aurip is one of Laven's friends, he has dark skin and seems very fit. Aurip is usually seen alongside his friend Deep, the two are both members of the Vanguard movement and appear well acquainted with Laven's family.

**Lissa Asio: **Chestnut Inkling adult. Lissa Asio is a doctor working at the Cephalic hospital in Inkopolis, she is assigned to work Lila's case by the ministry of defense. Dr Asio does everything by the book.

**Wister Fields (deceased):** Father of Laven and Lila

**Mauve Fields (deceased):** Mother of Laven and Lila

**Octarians:**

**Victoria Holter**: Octoling, originally an average Octoling soldier, Victoria wandered into Inkopolis on accident, she was originally distrustful of Kalus and the other Inklings, but have come to learn that they are not the evil creatures Octavio had them made out to be. Victoria is often serious, calm and cunning, choosing never to outright stand against anyone, however when things go wrong, Victoria will often lose her cool. Victoria is loyal to the Octarian race despite her friendships with Inker and the others and might also harbour feelings for Kalus.

Likes: Her family, Calamari Inkantation, Octo Valley, Victory, Kalus?

Dislikes: Octavia, Violet, being talked down too

**Octavia:** Elite Octoling, Acting Leader of Octo Valley, Octavia claims to be simply acting as a backup leader for Octavio, yet seems to not care about her former leader at all. Octavia is clever enough to take control over Octo Valley in Octavio's absence, but she does not do a very good job of leading the Octarian army, though she does manage to accomplish a few things. Octavia holds her rank in high regard and finds it offensive when her rank is ignored. Octavia also chooses an oppressive way of leadership, choosing to make examples of those who step out of line.

Likes: power, obedience

Dislikes: insubordination

**Captain Vale:** Elite Octoling, known as a hero to the Octarians for her actions during the Salmonid war, Captain Vale is a brilliant tactician and hand to hand combatant. Unlike the other Octarian officers, Vale values her subordinates lives and even makes sure to remember each of their names and stories. Vale would go so far as to disobey direct orders if she thought it would get her splatoon wiped out. She tried to overthrow Acting Leader Octavia to save her splatoon and take over Inkopolis her own way, unfortunately her plan failed and half her splatoon was executed by Octavia's orders. Captain Vale hates Inklings, though she cannot seem to remember why…

(Also known as: the captain, Emily Vale, Octarian captain)

Likes: sparring, planning ahead, her splatoon

Dislikes: Octavia, sacrificing soldiers, Inklings?

**Lynn**: Octoling, a soldier serving under Captain Vale. Lynn is as loyal as they come and will gladly follow orders. Thought she is more calm and upfront with her fellow soldiers, she becomes meek, shy and obedient around those of higher rank. Lynn explains that this is because she feels that those with higher ranks have more experience, she shows that she trusts those with higher ranks by obeying orders from them. Lynn does not seem to hold any sort of resentment towards the Inklings, she does not blame them for keeping the Zapfish and is okay with befriending Neon, she also gladly follows Inker's instructions.

Likes: Orders, the captain

Dislikes: tough choices

**Eliza Pierce:** Octoling, a soldier serving under Captain Vale. Eliza had a sister named Eileen, who was splatted by Inker on her 19th birthday. Because of that, Eliza has an immense hatred of Inker and would do anything she could to make his life miserable. Although she has an unreasonable hate for Agent 3, Eliza appears to be quite friendly and jokes with the other Octarians, in fact she looks out for her comrades in arms, even eavesdropping on Lynn and Inker's conversations incase Lynn was being forced to do something dangerous, she is also willing to sacrifice herself to allow her teammates to escape.

Likes: her brothers and sisters in arms, joking

Dislikes: Agent 3


	31. Back To the Valley

**Part 7: Inconsummate (chapters 31-35)**

It had been a week since Lila was brought back from the brink of insanity.

In that week Kal had spoken to both Dr Asio and Arcus Hilgendorf, letting them know what happened with Lila.

He also asked Victoria to explain a few things, specifically what did she say to Lila while she was missing.

In the end, it turns out that Lila's condition was not the result of simply losing her family, there were several other causes too.

First off, after being controlled and working for the Octarian army, Lila generated the belief that they could not be stopped, following that she witnessed everything she had done leading to her family's deaths.

She felt that both her and the Octarian army was responsible for their deaths, but since she thought the Octarian army was unstoppable, it made her move all the blame too herself.

Feeling incredibly guilty while simultaneously traumatized by what happened in Octo Valley, Lila tried to forget everything by pretending that none of that had happened.

Of course, without Laven and her family, she was all alone, since Kal comforted her in Melanin prison just like Laven would have done, she began to see both of them as one Inkling.

That is what Dr Asio concluded

Arcus reported that after Lila's apology video went live, citizens all over Inkopolis started calling for a new army again. However thanks to Lila's warnings, the Vanguard movement had disbanded and the citizens of Inkopolis are now calling for a national defense force instead of an army to invade Octo Valley. The fear and anger of the population was still there of course, but now it was more fear than anger, they wouldn't want more Inklings becoming corrupted like Lila did.

As for Victoria, she told Kal that she knew what he was planning; to make Lila accept the truth by recreating the battle that took her family from her. By pointing out the inconsistencies in Lila's fantasy and even using the trigger phrase the Octarians implanted in her, Lila was finally able to see the truth.

Victoria had returned to Captain Vale's hideout, while Inker, Kal and Neon had returned to Inkopolis for a while to make sure everything back home had been resolved.

Recovering from her state of insanity and being left with no family, Lila now lived at an orphanage in Inkopolis.

As for the New Squidbeak splatoon, as well as Inker's friends, they were all going to Octo Valley again.

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

"Acting leader, the splatoons which drove back the Vanguard movement have been replenished with fresh troops, as for the battalions searching for Vale and her Octarian renegades, they've had little success so far."

From her usual spot behind her desk, Octavia pondered over what to do now.

Well first she may as well dismiss the Octoling messenger in front of her.

"Thank you, you may return to your duties now."

"Acting leader, if I may I would like to ask why are we not fully committed to finding the disavowed Captain Vale and her renegade splatoon."

"There isn't much Vale can do on her own, all she's been doing so far is hiding and setting up distractions for us. The New Squidbeak Splatoon is still the bigger threat."

"I understand that, but recently there have been rumors circulating among the troops."

"Oh?"

"Some say that you are holding back against Vale and her renegades by keeping most of hte army focused on Inkopolis."

"If I ever find out who started that rumor, they'll be punished. Maybe I'll let them experience that boiling pit that Vale loved to use on Inklings." Octavia spoke with a certain level of coldness and indifference which made the messenger recoil in fear.

"U-umm, w-well, some have also noticed that your recent plans with the Vanguard movement, the brainwashed Inkling and the new Roller type weapons all seem to be ideas taken from the now traitor Vale."

"I admit that Emily Vale had some good ideas, that's why I'm making use of them. Only a failed leader would stick the same plans and tactics regardless of failure."

"However that has also led some to believe that Vale shouldn't have been made a traitor so quickly."

"If she wasn't a traitor then she wouldn't have tried to splat the entire chain of command and shoot herself to the top."

From what she heard, Octavia thought that maybe the troops were starting to see through her…

"Listen, if you hear or see anyone that might be turning to Vale's side let me know immediately."

"That won't be necessary Acting Leader. There is another rumor going around, that Vale's renegades are collaborating with the New Squidbeak Splatoon."

'_Vale working with Inklings? Impossible. Vale was an Elite like the rest of us, she couldn't bring herself to work with Inklings even if she wanted to.'_

"And do you know how this rumor started soldier?"

The Octoling shivered at Octavia's words.

"U-umm as you know, the second battle with the Vanguard movement turned into a three way fight when renegade Octarians started attacking our positions from behind. Some splatoons reported seeing Agent 3 show up and get splatted again, allowing the renegades to escape."

"Agent 3? That can't be true, Agent 3 is dead."

"Perhaps not, footage recovered from Octoling goggles reveal an Inkling matching Agent 3's description showing up during the battle. The only thing different was that he seemed to be trying to attract attention."

"I saw Agent 3 die with my own eyes, double check the battle footage and you can tell the troops to stop questioning my decisions, I didn't dedicate extra resources to hunting down Vale because I had other plans."

"Right away Acting Leader."

As the Octoling saluted and left, Octavia went to summon the other Elites.

She had a plan for Vale, but that plan couldn't be leaked to the other Octarians.

However, Vale was already one step ahead.

* * *

**Guerilla camp, Octo Valley**

Vale had already known that Octavia was gathering a list of family and known associates of her and anyone in her splatoon.

It was absurdly obvious to her why Octavia was doing so.

Eliza and a few other volunteers had previously watched and trailed some of the army around the Undercity. (The incident where Inker wasn't given the order to pull back and was left behind by Eliza a few chapters ago.)

She knew that Octavia was gathering everyone they knew in Bassoon prison.

Unlike Melanin prison, which was made to hold, torture and enslave prisoners of war, Bassoon was for holding Octarian criminals.

Since Octavia hadn't made any demands yet, Vale assumed she was waiting until she had gathered enough hostages to threaten every single member of her splatoon.

'_Honestly it's not a bad idea, even for her. But did she really think that I wouldn't find out? After that ploy with Lila and the Octobot King, I know well enough that Octavia sometimes does things without telling anyone her motives.'_

Vale expected Octavia to demand their surrender once she rounded up everyone who had a connection to her runaway splatoon. It would be something along the lines of 'if you don't surrender yourselves to the judgement of the Acting Leader, your families will be punished in your place' that would force Vale's splatoon to either try and rescue them, or give up.

Or they could sit back and do nothing as their families and anyone else close to them were punished in their stead.

There was a downside to all three outcomes:

If they surrendered then Octavia who be unopposed and once again be able to send Octarians to their deaths needlessly.

If they rescued everyone, they would become a large group of mostly non combatant Octarians, which would make it much easier for Octavia and the army to hunt them down. They would also have more mouths to feed and thus may need to start raiding the Undercity to survive.

If they decided not to do anything, then there will definitely be a loss of trust in Captain Vale's leadership, some may desert her and sell out to Octavia.

In this situation, Vale could only pick the path that held long term consequences.

Even though it was an unspoken rule in Octo Valley, that caring too much for others would only bring disaster upon yourself, Vale was not the type to abandon anyone she knew.

The moment Octavia gathers all the hostages she needs, Vale would already have her splatoon standing by near Bassoon prison.

So that before Octavia can deliver her ultimatum, they would attack and free everyone they could.

Since her own troops were Octarians themselves, they could easily pass as Undercity citizens, as long as nobody questioned what they do for a living it should be fine.

Nobody really chats in the Undercity anyways, after all making friends is discouraged in a place like that.

Vale wanted to go as well, but since she was likely branded as a traitor and terrorist, her face would definitely be on wanted posters all over the city, so she would have to sit this one out.

To make up for her absence, perhaps Agent 3 and his Inkling buddies could help out instead.

'_I doubt Agent 3 will come back, the reason he joined us in the first place was either because I recruited Victoria or because Lynn still had to return her favor right?'_

'_I'm sure we will end up on opposite sides again soon, but for now Agent 3 is probably still willing to work with us. Though I bet has some sort of goal in mind.'_

'_Perhaps he still thinks that getting on our good side means bringing our two races together? Though I don't really like the sound of that, I'm not about to become some pawn in Agent 3's goal.'_

'_Huh that's strange, I'm not sure why I'm so opposed to this idea of uniting the Inkling and Octarian races. Oh well, I'll figure it out eventually, if Agent 3 returns, I'll go make sure we are still on good terms with each other.'_

As always Vale knew that there had to be some bit of trust in order for them to work together.

If Agent 3 returned, she needed to make sure that they were second guessing each other, that applied to herself as well.

* * *

**Inkopolis plaza**

"Huh? You are coming too?"

Now that the issue with Lila and the Vanguard movement had been resolved, Inker had planned to go back to Captain Vale's lair and pursue his idea of uniting the two races. To his surprise Kal was coming too.

"Well why wouldn't I? I may not like getting involved in dangerous or troublesome matters, but I'm not about to sit back alone in Inkopolis."

"I see."

If Kal wanted to go, Inker wasn't about to stop him, but he was still worried that he may get hurt.

"Hey, remember that you can't respawn, so if things ever get too dangerous just run okay."

"Yeah I got it."

Sky showed up a moment later.

"Hey there Sky, what's with the bag?"

Sky usually stayed behind with Cap'n Cuttlefish as mission control, so there wasn't a reason for him to be wearing a backpack.

"Well you see, I thought that I could take this chance to learn the Octarian language. I know I'm going to be a burden, but please put up with me okay."

"Don't worry, as long as we stay away from the Undercity we should be fine, and you'll be safe in Captain Vale's hideout."

"You should knock on wood after saying something like that."

The only one missing now was Neon. She showed up eventually, twirling happily and beaming at the thought of Octo Valley.

As usual Sky was visibly annoyed with her.

"You're late"

"I'm fashionably late." Neon retorted, whipping her hair around.

"Why are you flicking your hair around?"

"Can't you tell? I took a nice long shower before showing up. I look fashionable and I'm late."

"That's not what fashionably late means."

"Really? I wouldn't know. By the way Inker, shouldn't you have done the same? Did you forget that the only ink in Octo Valley is dark magenta?"

For a moment Inker was surprised, he did forget about Octo valley not having ink in his colour, but he was more surprised by how Neon managed to remember such a small detail.

"Oh right, there was something like that, oh well it's not much of a problem."

"Not much of a problem? Personal hygiene is important you know. By the way *sniff sniff* yeah you are starting to smell. I bet that soon Callie and Marie will be too disgusted to stand near you. Wait if that happens, maybe they'll kick you out of the splatoon and I can join in…. Okay forget what I just said and just be your smelly self!"

Ignoring Neon, who started muttering to herself mid lecture, Inker curiously sniffed himself.

"Do I really smell?" Inker wondered, looking at Kal for confirmation

"Not really… Well it's not noticeable unless you really try to smell something. You're fine as is... for now."

"I'm surprised that Neon would even notice." Sky added

"What do you mean? Of course I'd notice! I'm not some wild animal, I love being fresh just as much as anyone else! Don't go thinking that fighting is the only thing on my mind."

"But isn't that the whole reason why you're coming along?"

Neon averted her gaze from Sky immediately.

"Hey Inker we should get going right? If we wait any longer we won't make it before nightfall right?"

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

"Let's gooooo!" Neon bolted through the manhole and into Octo Valley.

"Wait!"

"Slow down Neon!"

"Don't leave me behind! Watch out for the cameras too! Wait up!"

Sky, Kal and Inker chased after Neon.

* * *

**Guerilla camp, Octo Valley**

Inker had expected more patrols around Octo Valley, but for some reason, reaching Captain Vale's kettle was surprisingly easy.

The kettle was half buried and looked abandoned.

"Are you sure we are in the right place?" Kal asked.

"Yes this is definitely it, that captain knows what she's doing. I bet she made the kettle look like it's abandoned so that nobody would think she's hiding inside." Inker replied

"Yeah yeah, I remember it too, Vale said some sort of password before entering. Let's see…. What was it again?" Neon tried to remember.

"Honor to the valley." Inker said.

The kettle hummed to life again.

"Come on guys."

Inker and his friends entered the kettle and soon found themselves back in the repurposed hideout of the former captain Vale.

A few Octotroopers took note of their arrival, as if playing broken telephone they whispered to one another.

"Alright be careful guys, last time one of the Octolings shot me when I arrived." Inker told Sky and Kal.

But they didn't have to worry, the Octotroopers told Lynn, who then told the captain that Agent 3 was back with three other Inklings.

"Honor to the valley ehh? It's really strange hearing that from you. I see you brought even more company this time."

Inker and friends were met with Captain Vale, who had arrived to greet them.

"Yeah I hope you don't mind, they are just my friends and they aren't from the New Squidbeak Splatoon so try not to put them in danger."

"Bringing friends here is a risky move Agent 3, especially if they are just civilians."

"They'll be fine."

"Fine? You realize that we could be discovered and surrounded in a split second right? Bringing non combat ready Inklings here would only get in our way… Unless… Have they played turf wars before?"

"Yeah they have, hold on how do you know about turf wars?"

"I was part of the team that squidnapped Lila and your red friend. I saw what kind of things you Inklings do in your spare time."

"Huh?"

"I can see the advantages to playing turf wars, a deathmatch like that would prevent overpopulation and the winners would undoubtedly become strong soldiers."

Hearing Vale refer to Turf Wars as a deathmatch made him laugh nervously.

"Uhh… heh…. I think there's some sort of misunderstanding here, Turf Wars is just a game."

He didn't want the Octarians to get the wrong idea, that he was someone who wasn't above splatting other Inklings for entertainment.

"A game in your mind yes. But how else could you explain your victory against DJ Octavio? Not only that but Neon even managed to spar me to a standstill, you know not even Octavia could do that."

'_Now that she mentions it, Neon and I are great at turf wars and that carried over to Octo Valley. Could Turf Wars be Inkopolis' way of defending itself?'_

On the side, Neon beamed after hearing Vale praise her fighting skills.

"You see guys? Even an elite soldier of an elite army thinks highly of me. I'll become Agent 4 in no time!"

"It's not so surprising since you play turf more than any of us." Kal replied

"Yeah, by now we all know that you are only dependable when it comes to fighting." Sky added

"You guys… Kal when did you join Sky in picking on me?"

"I didn't... I just said what was on my mind! Hey i'll apologize so let go of me!"

Neon began grappling with Kal and Sky, temporarily distracting Inker and Captain Vale. the two looked over before returning to their talk.

"I didn't think of that. But still please don't send Kal and Sky on any dangerous missions. I'll do it in their place."

"If they aren't going to be helping, why bring them along in the first place?."

"Well, Sky wants to understand the Octarian language so he thought that this was a good chance to learn from an Octarian. As for Kal umm, he just didn't want to be left behind?"

Inker looked at Kal expecting him to clarify but he was too busy with Sky and Neon.

"Well if it's just two more Inklings I don't mind, be sure to show them the ropes around here. Also, since you came back I assume you are going to help us bring down Octavia?"

"Uhh, yeah sure."

"Good."

* * *

Eliza, Victoria and Lynn sat in the mess hall, having dinner with the rest of Captain Vale's troops.

Since Victoria felt out of place in Inkopolis, she immediately returned to Captain Vale's hideout along with Lynn and Eliza, while Kal and Inker finished things up in Inkopolis.

Today Inker and the others returned.

It wasn't just him and Neon this time, Kal and Sky tagged along too.

Sky wanted to learn the Octarian language, as for Kal well Victoria didn't know why he showed up.

Honestly she would have preferred that he stayed safe and sound in Inkopolis…

She watch Kal join Neon and Sky at a table across the room.

They still aren't getting along too well with the other Octarians, but after that mission where Inker managed to save Eliza's squad by distracting the Octarian army alone, they were starting to get better.

For one, they weren't going out of their way to harass the Inklings anymore.

Well at least Kal won't have to go through what Neon and Inker did when they first arrived.

'_Kal probably couldn't be able to take it, just like how he couldn't handle eating rationed food.' Victoria thought._

She was focused entirely on Kal at the moment.

'_What if he's sent to fight? He's somewhat tough, not tough like me but in his own gentle and somewhat naive kind of way. I think he'll be alright.'_

"Yo Victoria, is something wrong? Why are you staring at that red Inkling?"

Eliza's voice brought Victoria back to her senses.

"Ahh! No everything is fine, I'm just wondering why more Inklings are joining us."

Lynn chimed in

"One of them wanted to learn our language so that he can navigate Octo Valley easier and also speak with other species of Octarians. Captain Vale told me to pick someone to teach him. It's still strange though."

"He wants to learn our language? Do you think there might be some sort of….."

Eliza's voice trailed off when she saw Agent 3 walk in, holding a tray of food.

Her eyes squinted, she clenched her teeth and her eyebrows cocked like a blade.

Agent 3 noticed her and just smiled back before joining the other Inklings

Eliza's face was full of anger, it looked as if the veins on her forehead were throbbing.

Eliza rapidly stuffed her breakfast in her mouth, washed it all down and left with a sour expression on her face.

The other nearby Octarians watched, confused.

"Don't worry, I got this."

Lynn excused herself and went after Eliza.

"What's wrong with her?" Victoria wondered

"Dunno, she was perfectly fine a moment ago." A nearby Octotrooper replied.

"Yeah I could see that."

And next to him was an Octoling who was part of Eliza's squad.

"Speaking of strange, even though Agent 3 is back, Eliza isn't planning to wake him up."

"Oh so that's how Inker was always up on time. But Eliza doesn't seem to like Inklings at all, I'm surprised she'd even bother waking him up."

"No that's precisely why she wanted to wake him up, she probably found pleasure in giving him a painful awakening each day. Normally by now we would discuss what methods to use, things like pouring water on his face or pressing a cold knife on his back. Eliza seemed to enjoy it."

"Huh, I didn't know she was a sadist."

As Victoria and the other Octarians chatted among themselves, Eliza found herself alone in the lair.

Until Lynn showed up….

"Hey Eliza, I think I know what's bothering you. It's what happened at the rig isn't it?"

Eliza didn't say anything, she just kept that same look on her face.

Lynn continued

"You couldn't let go of the fact that Agent 3 splatted your sister. But then he saved you and in doing so he ruined your revenge."

Eliza clenched her fists.

Before, Agent 3 was just an enemy, a bad guy, someone who took the life of her sister.

But he saved the lives of her and her squad, it didn't make much sense.

'_Why would he risk his life to save those who would rather be hunting him down?'_

What Lynn said was true, Eliza was angry at Agent 3 for a different reason now.

"Times are changing Eliza, Octavio is gone and Inklings and Octarians are slowly coming together to work as one. Maybe you can learn to let go, accept the fact that Agent 3 saved you and forgive him for what happened in the past."

"Hey, that was his mission and we chose to help out, technically we saved him."

After saying that, Eliza angrily left Lynn.

'_There has to be an ulterior motive. Yes that must be it, Agent 3 didn't save us for no reason. I have to keep my guard up around him.'_

Back at the dining hall, Kal and Sky were choking down their rations.

Sky didn't complain, but he whinced and coughed, visibly struggling to eat the disgusting food.

Kal was slowly nibbling on a piece of salmon jerky, which once again was so salty it was more like a ball of salt than actual jerky.

"Ughh this again."

"You've eaten this before?"

"Yeah Victoria brought some with her when she was staying with me in Inkopolis. I have no idea how she manages to eat this stuff." Kal said.

"Maybe they go through some sort of special training to eat rations." Inker joked

Kal sighed "If such a thing exists, I think I'm going to need it." before forcing himself to eat.

After finishing the overly salty jerky, Kal felt like he hadn't drank anything for days. To distract himself he sat back and looked around in awe, as if he were a tourist.

No matter how many times he saw Octo Valley, there was always something new to him.

Such as this lair, which looked like it was once used to grow food, like some sort of underground farm.

Whatever purpose this place once served was gone, it was now repurposed into a hideout for these outlawed Octarians.

But repurposed or not, Kal never thought he'd end up living in an underground lair, that was usually something kept in apocalypse movies.

Inker had already warned both Kal and Sky that sometimes the Octarians will go out of there way to mess with them, apparently they would stick nails in their seats, trip them in the hallways or pour water on them to wake them up.

But so far nothing had happened.

Either they were lucky, or the Octarians just haven't made a move yet.

Or maybe they would only harass Inker because he was Agent 3?

From what Kal saw, the Octarians either hated or feared him, so it would make sense for them to try and do whatever they could to get in his way.

As Kal took in his surroundings, his sight centered on Victoria, who was seated at a different table chatting with other Octolings and Octotroopers.

Even though they were constantly at risk of being discovered and captured by the Octarian army, Victoria and the other Octarians here didn't look worried in the least.

If anything Victoria looked as if she belonged here.

Victoria once declined Kal's offer to stay in Inkopolis, then once she actually had no choice but to hide in Inkopolis, she ended up feeling out of place.

'_Octo Valley is her home after all. Guess Victoria wouldn't want to leave everything behind, just like how I wouldn't want to leave Inkopolis forever.'_

'_If she wants to stay here, then all I can do is help out until it's safe for her to stay. Well, I might not be that much help at all, but I want to do something.'_

Beside Kal, Neon glanced over at him, then she whispered over to Sky and Inker.

"Look at Kal over there, daydreaming while staring at Victoria, I wonder if he's thinking about crossing the line."

She probably thought that Kal lost himself staring at her, but Kal didn't.

"I heard that. Seriously what is the deal with you and my love life?"

"Oh? Did you just admit that Victoria is part of your love life?"

"What? It was just an example! N-no wait, I mean a way of speaking? An expression maybe…. I mean, uhh. Stop poking your nose into my life and bother someone else!"

"Ahh I see you are still too shy to admit it right? Yeah I know what that's like."

All this was normal for Neon. But Kal did enjoy playing turf with Neon, there were times when she could get annoying.

Kal decided to either change the subject or just get Neon to stop talking.

"What do you mean shy? Wait hold the phone, you know what that's like? What does that mean?"

"What else could it mean? Is it really strange for a girl my age to have a crush on someone?"

"No, rather it's strange because it's you specifically."

"You're brutal! I've asked this before but just what is your impression of me!?"

"Someone who doesn't want to do anything but play turf wars right?"

"Don't answer so quickly! I'll have you know that I have much more on my mind than just turf wars."

"If that's the case, then who is this crush of yours that you've never mentioned before."

"W-well umm you see…"

Neon averted her gaze from everyone and looked down, she began playing with her fingers and made blushy looking face.

She went from her usual cheerful self to looking like a shy and innocent maiden.

"I-its, umm…"

Not only Kal, but both Inker and Sky were all brimming with curiosity.

Then, after attracting their attention, Neon's bushy tailed act vanished in an instant.

"As if I'd tell you! Hahaha! If you are curious you should find out for yourself! Oh? What's with the looks on your faces? Did you really expect me to reveal something so important and personal right now? Too bad!"

Neon laughed out loud as if she just played a prank on everyone.

Kal sighed "I should have expected that."

Inker smiled "Same old Neon."

And Sky said his usual "Troublesome girl."

From the Octarian side of the mess hall, Victoria watched Kal and the others speak and laugh as if living in an Octarian lair hardly bothered them.

Right now, both sides looked as if they had quickly adapted to this place, despite the looming conflict.

For now everyone was safe and happy.


	32. Counterproductive

**Guerilla camp, Octo Valley**

Having already gotten used to getting up early, Inker was awake before any of his friends.

Inker expected the same Octolings from before to show up and do someone over the top to wake them up, so he remained awake while letting the others rest.

It would probably be difficult for Kal and Sky to adapt to waking up this early, as for Neon, Inker thought that since she was always so full of energy she could probably pull an all nighter and still be fine.

The clock struck six and Inker could hear the lair coming to life as all the Octarains in the base woke up.

This time however, nobody barged in and assaulted them or anything.

Strange…

'_Well we shouldn't keep the Octarians waiting._'

Inker gentily woke up his friends, somewhat glad that Kal and Sky wouldn't have to go through what he and Neon did during their first night here.

Once they were up, the group went for breakfast, where Inker was once again on the lookout for any Octarians trying to pull something.

Nothing, no nails in their seats, no shoulder bumps or anything.

What was happening here?

Actually it looks like the Octarians around them were getting fewer in number.

Inker spent the rest of the day on guard against anything the less friendly Octarians might try to pull but they didn't try anything.

Which meant that Sky and Kal had a peaceful first day in the lair.

Everything here was new to them.

Kal and Sky found the room where the Octarians marched in formation while singing their songs.

"What are those Octotroopers and Octolings doing?"

"Parading or something, not sure why though." Inker replied

Sky tried to think of a reason why the Octarians would need to practice moving together like that but just couldn't, he felt that it was not important, but since he didn't know a thing about combat and kept his mouth shut.

Kal and Sky also passed by a group of Octolings playing what appeared to be soccer, except they used a live Octoball as well... The ball.

As it was kicked about, the Octoball left trails of ink on the ground.

"That looks painful, did you ever try that." Kal asked

"Nope, I don't think I could without hurting myself."

Unless Inker could become dark magenta like the Octolings and Octoball, he could not join in such a sport.

Or he could just find them an actual ball.

Sky took a wild guess that maybe they were using the Octoball as the ball so that it wouldn't feel left out, but as usual he kept his thoughts to himself.

Plus he had already seen all this via Inker's hero suit back then so it wasn't so surprising.

When they travelled to the firing range they immediately noticed that the Octolings had started using Rollers again.

A line of Octolings moved about trying different ways to use the Roller.

Even though a Roller was a new concept for them, they seemed to be more adept in using it compared to Sky.

"Huh, I expected Neon to be here." Kal said

Unlike Inker who stayed with them, Neon ran off on her own as soon as they were done breakfast.

Kal and Sky were both certain that she would have ran here.

"I think I know where she is."

Inker led Kal and Sky to the sparring room and sure enough he was right.

"Hyah!"

"Gah!"

Neon was being knocked around by a group of Octolings.

Inker rushed forward to see what was going on.

Sky on the other hand wondered…

"Doesn't it look like Neon's doing just fine?"

"Really? Well I can't tell but I can see someone like Neon enjoying that."

Inker pulled an Octoling off of Neon.

"Hey stop it! Why are you picking on… huh Lynn?"

To Inker's surprise the Octoling he was holding was the pony tailed adjutant of Captain Vale.

Inker thought she was friendly to him and Neon, why was she here?

"Inkerrrr! Why did you have to jump in and ruin everything?" Neon complained

"Huh?"

Inker looked around, all the Octolings had stopped beating down on Neon.

Actually Neon didn't look hurt in the slightest, instead she seemed to be pouting.

Also among the Octolings was another familiar face.

"Victoria? Umm, what's going on here?" Kal asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Captain Vale is known to be the best hand to hand combatant Octo Valley has ever known, yet Neon fought her to a standstill, so naturally everyone would want to practice with her."

'_Shouldn't it be the opposite?'_ Sky wondered

"Wait, but I saw like twenty of you guys piling on top of her." Inker pointed out

Neon smiled

"Well yeah cause you know, they'd kinda all lose in a 1v1 so I figured let them all fight me at once."

"It's really weird seeing you say that with such a wide smile on your face. How do you even expect to beat twenty Octolings attacking you all at once?"

"Trained ones too, just saying." Victoria added.

Neon shrugged "I don't know, I think I can take on five and win with certainty, but going up against twenty is pretty fun in it's own way. Wanna try?"

"Yeah why not give it a shot Agent 3?"

"Come on, don't be afraid."

"Don't worry, we'll be gentle… mostly."

Several of the Octolings were smirking and cracking their knuckles.

Seeing this Inker nervously replied "Uhh... heh… I think I'll pass."

He could only see an outcome where he became a punching bag for Captain Vale's Octolings.

Inker then noticed another Octoling glancing into the room.

It was that same one who shot him when he first came here, the same one who came to Lynn's aid and ended up needing help at the rig.

Eliza.

Eliza immediately turned and walked off when Inker spotted her.

Inker guessed that something along the lines of a 20v1 beatdown probably caught her attention since he knew that she hated his guts.

He understood how difficult it would be to lose a family member, but Eliza and her sister Eileen were both soldiers, unless one was forced into the army they should have already accepted that they might lose their lives at any given period.

Well at least she hadn't been harassing him at every corner.

Inker was still determined to make peace with the Octarians but if there were more like Eliza…

Actually there were definitely more like her, he just hadn't met them yet.

Or they just haven't acted out yet.

Who knows?

Well so far Inker had encountered two kinds of Octarian, the ones that hated him and the ones that feared him, so far he had managed to get along with both.

If he was going to make peace with Captain Vale's splatoon, he would need to get along with Eliza somehow.

With that in mind, Inker left Kal and the others in the sparring room while he followed Eliza away.

'_Now what should I say?' Inker wondered._

He didn't have very long to wonder, because Eliza sped up her pace and rounded a corner.

Not wanting to lose sight of her, Inker speedwalked after her….

...Only to get a face full of fist as soon as he rounded the corner.

"Ow…."

For a moment Inker felt like his face had caved in.

"Why are you following me?"

"..I just wanted to talk.. You didn't have to hit me so hard."

"Your fault for trying to sneak up on me."

Inker was still reeling from the pain in his face.

"Ow…. that really hurt.

"Get over it." Eliza snapped, she rapidly turned and stomped away from Inker with a "hmph"

"Come on now, what's with that? What is it you want from me?"

"My sister back."

That again.

It was an unreasonable demand, not only that but her entire grudge was unreasonable to begin with.

Honestly Inker found Eliza's grudge to be very annoying.

"That again? You realize that it could have been anyone else getting splatted by me right? In fact I bet there are a hundred more Octarians who feel the same way as you, there are probably some in this splatoon, but I don't see them going out of their way to screw with me at every turn."

Eliza stopped

"What? Are you trying to tell me that I'm being unreasonable? I already know that. I know that it could have been anyone else in Eileen's place, so what? If we can like something without a good reason, then I can hate without good reason."

"Woah, umm no offense, but you sound really petty right now."

Eliza felt like punching Inker again.

"Listen up buddy, I don't care what you think about me. You might have fooled a few others with your whole "go on without me" stunt at the rig, but not me. I know the Captain has got plans for you, but mark my words, I'm going to see you die in a ditch somewhere before this is all over and you can bet that I'm going to be the one to put you there. For now the Captain has got something for me so you probably won't see me around. But I swear, when we meet again, i'm putting you down."

With that, Eliza stomped off in search of Captain Vale.

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

"..."

It hadn't even been a day since Eliza threatened Inker and now...

"So we meet again! Now what was it you were saying earlier?"

"Shut up! Don't talk to me, don't look at me, don't even think about me!"

"Wow you hate me that much huh..."

As Eliza had said, Captain Vale did have something for her.

But she never expected this.

Right now Eliza, along with Inker, Kalus, Neon, Sky, Victoria and Lynn were hiding in one of the many abandoned structures in the Undercity.

To think that the Undercity was supposed to be the one part of Octo Valley that was still inhabitable, yet had many structures that were abandoned yet couldn't even get boarded up due to the lack of resources.

The captain had divided the splatoon into several small groups, which each took positions in a different part of the undercity.

The idea was to take positions around Bassoon prison and move on without the captain giving orders, since the captain didn't want to risk getting discovered as her face would have become well known to all Octarians by now.

So the captain had to leave her subordinates to themselves, as long as they didn't do anything suspicious there should be no trouble, after all it wasn't possible to have a wanted poster for every single member of such a large group.

Under the assumption that they won't be spotted, all of Captain Vale's groups were supposed to be in position by 24 hours and move in as soon as those hours had passed.

Eliza understood all that, but why was she paired up with this Inkling sympathizer group? Which could only hide in a rotting farmhouse that could barely be considered within the boundaries of the undercity?

'_I swear, the captain is just trying to tick me off, or maybe this is sort sort of punishment for abandoning Agent 3?'_

'_No it wouldn't be suitable for punishment, I'd just abandon him again. Besides there is always a reason behind the captain's actions.'_

Eliza began to wonder if she was supposed to fulfill some sort of unspoken role here..

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Inker was also questioning the captain's orders.

When Vale had shown up and ordered him to head to the undercity with Victoria and Lynn it was no big surprise, but then she ordered that Kal, Neon and Sky go as well.

Inker protested that Kal and Sky were not meant to be fighting, but Vale simply told him that they could just stay behind him and that it would be safer than staying in the lair.

Did that mean they were discovered already?

Looking at the others, one could tell that both Sky and Kal were not okay with being here.

Sky kept his hands together the whole time and would not stop making movements with his fingers, giving the impression that he was nervous.

Kal as well, would react to almost every noise they heard. Well to be fair, in addition to being in enemy territory they were in a dark and abandoned house which could easily pass for a haunted one.

Lynn and Victoria were used to the gloomy atmosphere of Octo Valley so this didn't bother them in the slightest.

As for Neon...

"Hey Sky, whatcha doing? Having a thumb war by yourself?"

She was not concerned in the slightest as she tried to make conversation with Sky, who was nervously twiddling his thumbs.

Sky assumed Neon was probably oblivious to how dangerous it was being here. Why did Captain Vale force them all out here anyways?

"You do realise we are in Octarian territory?"

"Yeah duh."

"Then why aren't you showing it?"

"Huh? I'm supposed to show something?"

"Yeah of course! Look at everyone else keeping their guard up! Meanwhile you are here acting as if this is some sort of vacation."

"Ohh Sky, haven't you realized by now that I'm always like that no matter where we go? When you're as happy as can be, everyday can feel like a vacation!"

"Troublesome girl."

"Why do you keep calling me that!?"

"Well it's not like i'm wrong, or should it be something like "obnoxious girl"?. Hey! Let go of me! Ow!"

To Inker and Kal, It was strange seeing to normally quiet Sky act so outspoken towards Neon.

Perhaps Sky had gotten fed up with Neon's normal self after all this time.

Ignoring the scene of Neon throttling Sky, Inker pondered the captain's motives.

Like Eliza, he couldn't understand why Captain Vale had insisted on sending a group like this.

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

Most of Captain Vale's troops were gone now, she only kept one small squad here for defense.

The captain didn't like leaving her troops on their own, but she didn't have a choice considering how everyone in Octo Valley was probably on guard against her.

Well if everything goes correctly, they'd free all their family members and close ones who had been unfairly imprisoned.

If Eliza would also allow Agent 3 and his friends get killed in the confusion that would be icing on the cake.

'_Wait what?'_

The silence that filled the room was shattered by a surprised gasp from Captain Vale.

'_Oh no! What did I do? Didn't I want to keep Agent 3 as an ally for now? No forget that, why did I send all the Inklings in a group? That's not going to go well! They'll be spotted!'_

Vale had sometimes caught herself going against her own plans, but it seems this time she caught herself too late.

'_Eliza and Agent 3 are like two compounds that should never mix! Either Eliza's going to let Octavia's troops splat him, or Agent 3 is going to snap and end her!'_

Infighting was the last thing she needed.

'_Dammit! Why did I do such a thing!?'_

Now that she thought about it, didn't she want to make sure Agent 3 wasn't second guessing her?

No wait, she wanted to do that, but instead she started making sure they were second guessing each other.

The captain couldn't understand.

One moment she is being as rational as possible, the other moment she is trying to get rid of Agent 3 despite how useful he'd be…

Actually the captain was doing that ever since being saved from execution by the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

'_Okay now, clear your head and focus, Emily. What are your priorities here?'_

The captain tried to clear her mind by reasserting her current goals.

'_First off is the safety of the splatoon, no first off should be DJ Octavio, no the Octarians as a whole…. Right?... What the hell?!'_

She couldn't even get a clear grasp of her goal.

Why didn't she think of that earlier?

She had been running what was supposed to be a small group of Octarians rebelling against Octavia right?

Something was really wrong here.

'_Okay now, why do I want to bring down Octavia? Because she gave me a suicide mission? Because she's secretly trying to take power for herself? Because she's ignoring Octavio's safety? Because she won't ever listen to others?'_

For some reason, there were a dozen reasons popping up, it confused Vale even more.

'_Gahhh! Screw it!... ALL OF THE ABOVE!'_

Now to the issue with Agent 3.

'_Why did I send him to the Undercity?...'_

'_...'_

Nothing…

'_Okay then, why should I NOT send Agent 3, his Inkling friends, Victoria and Lynn, with Eliza in their group?'_

It took a moment, but Vale soon had tons of reasons pouring in.

'_Agent 3 is much more resourceful than he seems, although a bit naive, he is willing to work with me under the pretense that doing so will lead to peace between our two races. I'm not worried about him turning on me, since I was able to toss him around like a ragdoll in sparring. All in all he would be much more useful alive, since he could make use of the New Squidbeak Splatoon's resources to help us.'_

'_The red and sky blue Inklings don't give off that same confident vibe that Agent 3 and my troops give, Agent 3 said they weren't really fighters and it's probably true. They will likely just end up being a burden and hold the others back.'_

'_Victoria is the daughter of Maria Holter, who I was fond of in the past, Lynn is nervous around strong individuals, but she's quite promising, so I've been using her as my adjutant ever since Claire died. In short, both are great young Octarians with a lot of potential, yet I put them with Agent 3 in a city full of hostiles. Octavia might be the type to do something like that, but not me.'_

The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to hit herself.

But doing so was meaningless, at this point, Vale could only sit back and pray that everything works out.

'_Eliza hates Agent 3 with a blind passion, therefore she may end up jeopardizing the mission by allowing her group to be discovered, then slipping away leaving Agent 3 and the others to the Octarian army. Now Eliza may be irrational and emotional, but she hasn't gone against my orders before. So there may be a chance that she'll overlook being near Agent 3 until her mission is complete.'_

Comforting herself with that last thought, Vale would wait eagerly for her troops to return, hopefully with Agent 3 and his group still breathing.

'_Wait a second, If I was trying to keep them out of sight, I would have had them take position much later.'_

Unlike the combat groups that were comprised completely out of Octarians, Inker's group was waiting on the outskirts of the Undercity.

So there was no reason for them to leave this early.

'_Just what was I thinking?'_

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

With too much time to spare, Inker and the others could only wait away the remaining hours until the rest of Vale's splatoon was in position.

Well since Inker still didn't have much knowledge on their mission, he made use of this time to ask Lynn and Victoria.

So as night began to fall, Inker and co sat on some old furniture left in the abandoned farmhouse and mingled.

"So this Bassoon Prison? Is it similar to Melanin?"

"No" Victoria began "Bassoon is a normal prison, unlike Melanin which was a military prison made for holding prisoners of war. I'd tell you more but I really don't know much on the subject either."

"U-umm, the captain was saying that Bassoon should be as well guarded as Melanin, so it shouldn't be too hard breaking everyone out, the trouble is making sure we aren't followed back to the lair." Lynn added.

Even though they weren't eager to fight, Sky and Kal were paying close attention.

"Isn't a bassoon an instrument?" Sky mumbled

"Hmm?" Lynn and Victoria looked at Sky, who seemed to have a comment.

"Oh nothing." Sky dismissed

He still wasn't exactly familiar with Lynn yet, so he was going to be his usual quiet self.

Kal wasn't sure what Sky was going to ask, but he guessed that it had something to do with him being forced to come along.

So he asked in his place.

"Yo Lynn, why is it that your captain made me and Sky tag along? I mean I'm fine with it really, but Sky is here to learn your language, not fight.."

"Oh right there was something like that… Well I'm actually not sure why the captain did it. As for Sky, well u-umm, I guess I could start by teaching him a few basics while we are waiting here."

Sitting far away from the group was Eliza.

As much as she didn't like being in the same room as her sister's killer, she felt it necessary to keep an eye on him, just in case…

For the sake of Lynn and Victoria of course, she wouldn't mind if anything happened to the others.

Inker could feel Eliza staring holes into him.

As much as he wanted to talk to her again and try to smooth things out between them, Inker just couldn't see Eliza as the type for forgive and forget.

That punch from earlier made that clear.

Then Neon showed up again.

"Hiya!"

"Where have you been?" Sky asked

"Me? Oh I was just checking the ration thingys that we left in the barn. It's all the same yucky food so nothing interesting there. What up with you guys?"

"Just talking about the upcoming mission." Inker replied

"Booooring! We can worry about it when the time comes! If we are going to talk, let's talk about something more interesting! Hmm lets see… Ahhh I got it!"

Neon's eyes locked onto Lynn.

"Lynn! That's your name right? Are you a tomboy or something? Why do you put your hair like that?" Neon pointed at Lynn's ponytail, which was somewhat similar to the ponytails Inker, Kal and Sky had.

"Whaaa? Do I really look like a guy to you?! Wait why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?!"

"That's just Neon being herself, you'll get used to it eventually." Sky said.

"Yeah yeah! Besides we are friends right? Friends talk about things like this!"

"Ummm…"

Neon's strange attitude really confused Lynn.

One moment she is here explaining things to Agent 3 and preparing to teach an Inkling the basics to the Octarian language. Then all of a sudden this strange girl jumps in and asks if she's a tomboy.

It was a very strange way to make conversation.

"Umm does my hairstyle really make me look like a guy?" Lynn asked the others.

"Not really, though it's true that male Inklings like having hairstyles like that, it has more to do with the fact that it's trending at the moment. I think in about two years there will hardly be anyone still putting their hair like this… Wait why are we suddenly talking about fashion?" Inker responded.

Neon smiled "Why not? I just wanted to point out how Lynn is the only Octoling to have a ponytail like you guys."

"I just find it convenient for me, it's not like I wanted to look like an Inkling boy."

"Don't worry about that Lynn, though what do you mean by convenient?" Victoria asked

"Well it keeps my hair from going all over the place."

That caught Neon's attention once more "Ohhhh! So if I rubbed my feet on some carpet, then poked you, would your hair explode!?"

"No, not that. Umm, my hair is feisty? I don't really know how to explain."

"Feisty? How can hair be feisty?" Neon turned to Sky

"Why are you looking at me?"

"I thought you would know something."

"I'm not a connoisseur of hairstyling."

"No I just thought… You know what nevermind. Hey Lynn, let your hair loose! I wanna see what "feisty" hair looks like!"

"U-umm is it really necessary? I mean it's hard enough already getting my hair to stay like this."

"Ahh so your hair does explode easy."

"I guess that's one way to put it, they are full of energy?"

"Full of energy?"

"Is there some kind of misunderstanding here? I feel like this is one of those moments where our common sense doesn't line up." Kal interjected.

"Leave it to Kal to know when our two races aren't on the same spectrum. He is the only Inkling with an Octo-girlfriend after all! Isn't that right Victoria?"

Kal sighed "Not this again…"

Everyone else was now used to Neon shipping Kal and Victoria together constantly, except for Lynn.

Lynn stared at Victoria, wide eyed.

"Wait what? You and…. Well the captain did say you were close to some Inklings, but I didn't know she meant that close… Actually it makes sense! So that's why you can't take your eyes off Kal when we are in the mess hall!"

"Huh?" Kal squeaked

"That was out of concern! Not affection! And why are you suddenly out of character? Go back to being that shy girl who begins all her sentences with "u-umm" whenever the captain or Agent 3 is present!" Victoria shouted.

"Okay, how about we just put Neon's fantasies away and go back to the earlier topic." Kal suggested.

"Yeah let's do that." Victoria agreed

Though now both were beet red.

"What a troublesome girl…" Sky commented

"..."

"... uhhh so, back to what I was saying earlier.. Do Octolings have moving hair or something? They don't just hang around like ours?" Kal said, showing his hair tentacles pulled back and secured in a ponytail.

"Well yeah of course, after all you can't expect a living being to stay still forever." Victoria replied.

"What….."

"What?"

"Say that again."

"What?"

"Not that."

"You can't expect a living being to stay still forever?"

"Yeah that, are you saying your hair is ALIVE?"

"Huh? Is that really so strange?"

"Of course it is!" Inker and Kal exclaimed at once.

Victoria and Lynn exchanged glances and shrugged.

"So hold on, you are telling me that each tentacle of yours has a mind of its own?" Inker asked.

"U-umm yeah of course, don't you have a separate brain for each tentacle of yours?" Lynn sounded confused.

"Wait a sec, so what would happen if you got a haircut?" Kal asked

"Where do you think Octotroopers come from?" Victoria replied.

"I thought they were just some sort of lesser Octarian species."

By the way Neon had gone silent now, she was poking at one of Victoria's tentacles with curiosity.

After a bit of poking, Neon waved at the tentacle, which promptly waved back.

Victoria took note of Neon, but did her best to ignore her for now.

"Okay correct me if I misunderstood, but Inkling tentacles don't have their own will?" Lynn asked

"They don't." Inker replied. "You were right Kal, this was a big misunderstanding."

"Well we gotta get used to these kind of things if we want Inklings and Octarians to quit fighting."

"Okay then I'll explain what I meant earlier. I have a ponytail because if I don't tie up my hair it goes every grabbing and touching everything, that what I meant when I said I have feisty hair."

"Just Octoling problems am I right?" Kal said.

"What?"

"Oh nothing."

Kal was imagining a #justoctolingproblems popping up if Octarians started living in Inkopolis.

"So that's why you never let your hair down even in the showers." Victoria added

"It's a pain for me you know. Sometimes i'd go out for a walk, then when I get home and look in the mirror, i'd notice that my hair stole someone's hat or something."

Around this time…

"Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can."

'Clap clap clap'

Neon was singing a children's song and appeared to be playing a game with two of Victoria's tentacles.

"Hey, could you maybe not play with my hair?"

"Sorry!"

Since she was bored again, Neon skipped over to Eliza and started a conversation with her.

Well she tried to.

Inker and Victoria felt that something would go wrong, so they both kept an eye on Neon.

After a moment she hopped on back, removed her ink tank, grabbed an old cushion and laid down.

"What are you doing?" Sky asked

"The grouchy Octoling said it was time to get some rest, so I figured I'd sleep now."

What Eliza actually said was "Isn't it past your bedtime? you Inklings love your beauty sleep after all." It was supposed to be a jab at how she couldn't wake up as early as Octarians, but Neon seemed to take it seriously.

"Sleep? You'd sleep on the floor in an abandoned building? Well I am starting to feel a bit sleepy, what time is it anyway?"

"About eleven thirty." Lynn and Victoria replied together.

Octarians did have a great sense of time.

"Oh already? Well we are supposed to be fighting tomorrow, I guess we could get some rest."

* * *

One o clock in the morning.

Everyone in the group had fallen asleep.

Except one of them.

Neon wasn't sure if it's normal for someone to stay up on guard in situations like this, but she felt it was right.

Even Eliza had fallen asleep by now, though Neon didn't really care.

She was focused on the others.

On Inker, Kal, Sky, Victoria and Lynn to some extent.

They were her friends after all.

Despite Neon's happy go lucky attitude, she was actually well aware that she's a weird one.

Yet these guys put up with her usual antics everyday and cared for her.

Like that one time when she thought she was being too reckless to help, so she ran away and started playing turf wars on her own.

They had actually gotten worried and were looking for her.

Neon still remembered sitting alone, watching the sun set over Inkopolis, until Sky found her and gave her a wake up call.

She still thought her friends were better beings than her, all she could do was fight.

And fight she shall.

Neon watched the others, confirming that each one of them were asleep already.

Her eyes settled on Sky, well actually on the roller that was lying next to him.

"Okay, i'll just borrow this."

She took the Roller and swung it around a couple times.

Taking note of how the weapon handled, Neon quickly recalled how it was supposed to be used.

She did use the Roller a few times back when she was starting out, but she always found the Charger type weapons to be more fun for her.

Getting a feel for how the weapon handled, Neon silently crept away.

She didn't like leaving her Custom E-Liter 3K behind, nor did she enjoy taking Sky's Roller without permission.

'_Oh well, if I used my charger it would wake everyone up, besides I'll put this to better use than Sky ever will.'_

Neon left the farmhouse, and in the light of the artificial sky above Octo Valley, crept over to a barn that was equally abandoned.

She was here earlier, since Captain Vale had apparently hidden some rations somewhere in there, but she was here for a different reason now.

It was all quiet, around here, only Neon was awake….

Along with one other person.

"Alright, I know you're there, you should come out now."

'_That's what Inker would have said right?'_

"..."

"You are going to keep hiding? Why don't you come out already?"

"..."

Nobody was answering, but Neon still felt like somebody was there.

She had felt like somebody was watching them for a while now.

There wasn't really anything in this barn, aside from a few piles of debris.

Their rations was hidden in one of the piles as for the others…

Neon approached the largest pile of rubble.

She had only needed to remove a few bit and pieces before she saw a strand of fresh seaweed.

"... So you really did notice me."

Neon leapt back, laying down a trail of ink with her Roller.

At this moment, an Elite Octoling burst out of the rubble.

She was carrying one of the Octorollers that Vale had made before her betrayal.

"... And here I thought you were just looking for a midnight snack."

The Elite had been determined to stay hidden at first, but now that she was spotted, her mind was filled with killing intent.

Neon on the other hand was getting excited.

Vale was an Elite Octoling and she was fun to spar with, so Neon expected something similar from this unknown Elite Octoling.

The Elite flung ink towards Neon, who countered with her own.

Since that didn't work, the Elite tried to rolled over Neon, but Neon managed to block the attack with her own Roller.

The two were now in close combat, using their rollers to melee each other into submission.

They swung their rollers as if they were hammers or battleaxes.

The silence of the night was broken by the sounds of clashing rollers, though there wasn't anyone around to hear it.

It wasn't nearly as loud as a Charger after all.

The Elite Octoling had seen Neon with a Charger earlier, so she assumed Neon was not familiar with a Roller.

With that in mind, the Elite observed Neon's movements, searching for an opening.

When she thought she had seen one, the Elite thrust her Roller at it.

However Neon was too quick and could read her movements perfectly.

In other words, Neon had no opening.

Neon easily parried any attack from any angle that the Elite could attack from, after a few moments of clashing, both Neon and the Elite leapt back, only to charge at each other and clash again.

As for Neon, she saw an opening and went for it.

The Elite dramatically leapt to the side in order to avoid the attack, but the leap made her lose footing.

Neon swung at the Elite, who was only narrowly able to avoid the attack, although some ink managed to hit her.

The Elite wiped Neon's ink of her face.

"Damn, I thought Agent 3 would be the one to watchout for…"

Despite her best efforts, the Elite could not get past Neon's defense.

As they kept attacking and blocking, Neon found a wide smile making its way onto her face.

"Hahaha!" Neon suddenly burst out laughing.

The Elite wondered what that laugh meant for her.

However Neon remembered what time it was and quickly covered her mouth.

Before blocking another attack from the Elite.

Neon had gotten to a point where she could speak and fight at the same time.

"My bad, it's just that well… I love fighting, it's all I can do, but everytime I come to fight, someone is always holding me back. Now finally, I can fight alone without anything stopping me. So sorry, but I really can't hold back now!"

The Elite assumed Neon would try to make some sort of complex move after saying those words, so she rushed towards Neon before Neon could attack.

Since she couldn't just roll over her, the Elite tried a sword move, slashing in a V shape with the roller.

Neon however rotated her Roller horizontally, and blocked the attack, then she held the Roller like a spear and thrust it at the Elite's neck.

The Elite ducked, but Neon anticipated that, she brought her foot up and landed a kick square in the face.

With the Elite reeling from Neon's kick, Neon recoiled her roller, then rapidly thrust it into the Elite's chest then pinned her down to the ground.

The Elite struggled under Neon's roller, she squirmed as much as she could but she could not get herself free.

As for Neon she had stopped before the Elite could get splatted, an act which even managed to surprise herself.

But she was satisfied.

"Game set, match!"


	33. Repeated Events

**Octo Valley**

"What's this?!"

When Inker and the others woke up, he was surprised to find a bound and gagged Elite Octoling present, along with Neon wide awake.

Actually wide awake wasn't the correct word here.

"Oh guys! You're up! Finally! Do you know how boring it was standing guard all night? Okay well since you're all awake I'll go get some shut eye, good night!"

"Don't just go to sleep like that! At least explain a few things first!" Inker shouted.

Neon rubbed her eyes

"What's there to explain? *yawn* She was spying on us so I tied her up."

"How did you know that?"

"Dunno, I had a hunch. Plus I noticed the grouchy girl constantly glance over at the barn so I figured something was there. Can I sleep now?"

"Yeah sure, but not for too long, we need to follow the schedule."

Neon laid down and instantly fell asleep, while Inker turned to Eliza.

Who else could be identified as "grouchy girl" but her?

"Did you know about this?"

Eliza didn't face him, but she still answered

"If you had been paying attention instead of talking about fashion or whatever, you would have noticed."

She knew.

Eliza putting her personal grudge infront of everyone else's well being really bothered Inker. But it was Victoria who was really ticked off now.

Victoria was a career soldier, who pretty much devoted everything to joining the Octarian army, she would put the well being of others first as she believes a soldier should.

So it was inevitable that someone like her would clash with someone like Eliza.

"So you knew! Hey we are supposed to be a team here, why didn't you tell us? If there's an Elite here, than that means Octavia knows we are coming! We could possibly be walking into a trap and all gotten splatted!"

Eliza didn't say a word.

"So that's why…. You think that if you did nothing the Elite would alert the others and the army come would take out Agent 3? Is that right?"

Eliza still refused to speak.

Victoria raised a finger and pointed at Eliza.

"You're unfit to serve."

'?!" Eliza, now faced Victoria with an equally angry face.

"Say that again."

"You heard me, you are unfit."

"Hmph. That's rich, coming from the one who sold us out in the first place. Why don't you stop and think: how many of my sisters in arms died when you led Agent 3 to Melanin prison? You should never have joined the army."

"I joined the army and helped Agent 3 because I'm doing what I believe is right. Why don't you take a good look at your captain? She's doing the exact same thing."

"She's doing it for the entire Octarian race, unlike a certain someone who did it for a free ticket to Inkopolis."

"She's doing what she THINKS is right and so am I. Also for the record I never once concidered leaving Octo Valley behind for Inkopolis."

Eliza and Victoria stared holes into each other, creating a tense atmosphere.

"Hey, calm down Victoria. I know how seriously you take being a soldier, but let's not start fighting amongst ourselves." Kal said.

"U-umm Eliza, are you really willing to sacrifice everyone here just to see Agent 3 splatted?" Lynn asked

"Don't pin everything on me, it's survival of the fittest in Octo Valley remember? Nobody befriends anyone so that they won't be bothered when they die. If the team must be sacrificed, so be it."

This made Lynn back away in fear.

Unlike Victoria and Eliza who were both used to the concept of not making bonds to avoid loss, Lynn had made friends and trusted them before.

She thought since Eliza was from her splatoon, she could be trusted just as much as Claire, but this wasn't the case.

"Wait…. That means you'll sacrifice me! You'd leave me to die with Agent 3? Cause that's probably what would have happened if Neon wasn't here!"

"..."

"I heard that you stopped harassing the Inklings back at base, So I thought maybe you had changed. Did you really hate Agent 3 that much for saving you?"

Lynn said something Inker couldn't ignore.

"Wait? What? How does that make any sense? Didn't I splat her sister and that's why she hates me so much?"

"It's not just that."

"Keep quiet Lynn."

Lynn ignored the menacing Eliza.

"I think that Eliza's mad that you had to go to her aid during the three way fight with the Vanguard movement and Octarian army."

"Keep your stupid theories to yourself." Eliza commented, but her words landed on deaf ears.

"Am I wrong?"

"..."

"At least you know when to keep quiet." Victoria added.

Inker sighed "I'll go speak to Captain Vale about this once we get back, we still have to free the hostages in Bassoon prison right?"

"Are you sure it's a good idea? If there's an Elite here than the chances are that Octavia already knows we are coming." Victoria pointed out.

"Hey you tell me, I don't know much about gorilla warfare or whatever you call this stuff."

"It's guerilla, anyways we could continue as planned, or we could head back, though I don't think Vale would be pleased if we turned tail and ran."

"Then we keep going?"

"We should, since there's no way to contact the other groups, but there's a bit of a problem now. First off, if the Octarian army knows we are here, they could possibly reinforce Bassoon prison. Secondly we have no way of knowing whether or not the other groups have been discovered or not until we actually attack Bassoon prison. Thirdly we still have this Elite to deal with."

Victoria turned to the bounded Elite Octoling.

Had she seen her before? Her face looked kinda familiar...

"By the way, is Neon into bondage or something? I mean the way she tied up this Elite seems extremely well done..."

"Huh?" Sky, Inker and Kal didn't know what Victoria was talking about.

Once again surprised by the lack of knowledge, Inker and the other possessed, Victoria rolled her eyes then began to explain.

She pointed at the ropes.

Neon had tied the Elite's legs and wrists together with two separate ropes, the Elite could not move either her arms or legs due to them being held together by constrictor knots, the two ropes were then joined together by a double fisherman knot on one end, while the other ends were tied in figure eights which also helped secure the Elite's limbs.

Victoria explained all this and Lynn ended up joining in since she understood these things. They were normally taught how to tie those knots in the Octarian army.

Lynn also pointed out that Neon had removed the Elite's goggles and faced them towards a wall, since the goggles could record what was happening.

All in all, Neon did a surprisingly good job.

"Zzz"

Of course, Neon still didn't promote a dependable side of herself, considering the fact that she was sprawled out on the floor, fully asleep.

"Shouldn't somebody wake her up?" Kal asked

"Let her sleep for a bit longer, she deserves it don't you think?" Sky replied

"No actually wake her up now, we need to go split the rations anyways then leave for Bassoon." Victoria said.

Sky went to wake up Neon, who brushed him away at first, but when he mentioned eating and leaving, Neon got up quickly.

After retrieving their rations from the nearby barn, Victoria was about to distribute them, but Neon had already taken her share.

Victoria looked like she wanted to say something, but held it back.

She distributed the remaining rations among themselves.

Once again, Eliza was separated from the group, though now it was because nobody really trusted her anymore.

"By the way, what are we going to do about her?" Inker asked, pointing at the captured Elite, who hadn't said a word since capture.

"We can't take her with us, I was thinking we leave someone behind to watch her, I mean Neon did a pretty good job tying her up, but there is still a chance she'll break free."

Sky looked like he was about to volunteer, but changed his mind after hearing that last bit.

"We could send her back to the lair, but that would also be suspicious regardless of who does it."

"Maybe we could untie her and blindfold her, then tell her to walk towards the lair so the others can pick her up?"

"That won't work, she'll just turn around the moment we are gone."

While Inker and Victoria discussed this, Neon was sneaking away bits of Kal and Sky's rations.

Sky ignored it at first, but soon it got on his nerves.

"Why do you keep taking my food?"

"I'm hungry."

"Eat your own then!"

"Oh it's poisoned so I'd rather not."

"Oh okay…. Wait what?"

Everyone looked at Neon.

"What?"

"Did you just say poison?"

"Yeah, some of the rations are poisoned."

Kal and Sky looked at their remaining food with fear, while Inker covered his mouth.

"Oh don't worry guys, I took all the poisoned food." Neon pointed at her pile of rations.

No wonder she wasn't eating any of it.

As she did that, the Elite struggled a bit, it seems like her plan had failed.

"How did you know?"

"Hmm? I mean there was someone watching us so I figured they might have done something already, so I spent last night checking everything we brought with us. Isn't that common sense?"

"I don't want to hear common sense from you… Wait hold the phone, how do you know which rations were poisoned?" Sky said

"Uhhh, if the bread isn't as tough as a baseball bat, or if the jerky doesn't feel like a ball of salt then I figure something must be wrong, oh and also sometimes you can smell the difference. So if you wanted to poison someone you should do it with something strong and acidic so it's harder for them to notice, like ice wine for example."

"Why do you know all this?"

"My mind is loaded with random bits of useless knowledge!"

"That's not exactly something to be proud of…"

"You can be proud of anything! Didn't you say that Sky?"

"I didn't, did I? I don't remember…"

"What do you mean? you were the one who said 'stop worrying over mistakes and start seeing all the times you did good.' and 'sure you made some mistakes, but you also did many things right.' remember?"

"Uhh yeah but, how come you remember everything word for word?"

"How could I not? I was depressed and you help me snap out of it! it's a precious memory for me!"

"So.. what other kinds of things do you know?" Victoria asked.

"Oh just cool things, for example, did you know that 'word salad' is an actual psychiatric term for the inability to speak?"

"I don't know if that can be defined as cool, rather it sounds like something Dr Asio would say." Kal commented.

"What about how when people offer something for "free" right after announcing it's price, then it's most likely a way to entice you into buying something else?"

"Isn't that just normal business?"

"Then how about the story of an Inkling from the Great Turf War sparing a crippled Octarian saucer and letting it fly back to safety?"

"Yeah that does sound more interesting."

"Oh and what about-"

"We don't have time for this…" Eliza snapped from the other side of the room.

"I thought you didn't care about our team." Victoria said

"I care about our objectives, the sooner we raid Bassoon and get back to the sooner I can get away from him."

Eliza glared at Inker, who by now was getting used to it.

With Neon returning to sneaking bits and pieces of other people's rations, Victoria and Inker whispered to each other.

"Is it just me, or has Neon been surprisingly useful of late?"

"To be honest, I always thought that if Neon could control herself instead of charging into battle, she'd be a better Agent 3 than me."

"You're thinking of stepping down already? First time I've heard of a soldier retiring this early."

"Don't forget I was never a soldier to start with, I became Agent 3 because I thought I could do some good, but well now I'm getting involved in some complicated things I can't even begin to understand."

"Oh.. well, you're still pretty useful as you are, don't go quitting on us yet."

* * *

**Bassoon Prison**

After a long trip, sneaking about in the Undercity, Inker and company arrived at their goal.

If Vale's plan was to be followed, they would have to attack at the other groups as an enveloping attack would be the most efficient.

Inker, Victoria, Eliza and Neon were all ready for battle.

Kal and Sky on the other hand, a little less.

Lynn was no longer with them, since they decided to let her bring back the captured Elite.

Neon stared at Inker, eyes glimmering with excitement.

"Stop looking at me like that, just go do what you're best at."

"Alright! RahhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Neon once again charged in at full speed.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Victoria asked

"Neon can handle herself."

"Isn't she poorly suited for this sort of thing?"

They were fighting in a prison after all, it was obvious that a charger user like Neon would be at a disadvantage.

"If it was anyone else it would be true, but this is Neon we are talking about, if she can do anything it's fight."

Indeed, the close quarters didn't slow Neon down in the slightest.

Neon would take out anyone who stood infront of her, and with great accuracy too, she pretty much never missed a shot.

Sometimes a swarm of Octotroopers would try to surround her, but Neon was flanked by Victoria and Inker, who both wielded shooters, they helped Neon deal with the larger groups of lesser Octarians.

Kal and Sky brought up the rear, where they were less likely to be hit, even though they had the most close ranged weapons here and would probably be better off in front, they weren't exactly prepared for this kind of fight.

Sky still couldn't bear permanently splatting someone, while Kal was average at best and would probably had trouble dealing with a single Octoling.

And while they were all busy, Eliza left on her own.

She didn't need help from Inklings, she was an Octarian soldier.

She was going to prove it now, so that the captain won't pair her up with Agent 3 again.

'_Yes that must be why the captain put me here, this is my trial by fire.'_ Eliza thought.

If only she knew how wrong she was.

It wasn't long before they cleared all enemies on their side.

"Huh?! It's over already? Awww that was too short!" Neon complained

"Hey isn't this strange? Why is Bassoon so poorly guarded compared to Melanin?" Inker wondered.

"Bassoon isn't a military prison like Melanin, though I do admit it's strange, I thought they knew we were coming. Shouldn't they have stationed more guys from the army here?"

Both Inker and Victoria couldn't shake the feeling that they were missing something here.

* * *

**Guerilla camp, Octo Valley**

"Attention Octarian renegades! You are to cease your resistance and surredner to the nearest patrol, we have captured all possible collaborators, their well being depends on your actions! Repeat!" This message was being played on a loop by several saucers flying around randomly in Octo Valley.

The way it flew indicated that it had no clear destination was was simply trying to get the message out to anyone in Octo Valley.

Vale assumed this was Octavia's way of threatening the hostages' lives.

'_A bit too late Octavia, my forces are already attacking Bassoon.'_

As Vale wondered how the teams were doing, someone had dug up their kettle.

"Honor to the valley."

It was Lynn, taking an Octoling, no an Elite Octoling with her.

Vale immediately rushed over to her adjutant.

"Lynn, you're back early, what happened?"

Vale prepared herself for the worst news.

After all she made a big mistake sending Agent 3 and a bunch of non combatant Inklings to do what her own troops could have done on their own.

'_If Lynn was back here on her own, maybe the rest of the team was wiped out?'_

'_That would mean Agent 3 is gone, that's good…'_

'_No wait, what am I saying? That's bad!'_

'_Is it?'_

Vale waited for Lynn's explanation.

"We found her spying on us at our designated waypoint, though we captured her before any major harm was done. The others decided I would bring her back here while they proceeded with the plan."

Vale sighed in relief "Oh good."

They almost lost a valuable ally because of a mistake that shouldn't have happened.

Vale was making sure to double check her own actions just in case she did something unnecessary again.

She only had a moment of relief though, because soon something else popped into mind.

"When did you find this Elite?"

"I'm not sure, since I wasn't awake at the time of her capture. But it would have at least been ten hours ago."

"Ten hours?"

Something didn't add up.

Vale looked into the Elite Octoling's eyes.

She didn't look like any of the Elite's she knew, in fact she looked much younger than most Elites.

"Ahh so this was a newly promoted one."

It would explain why she let herself be taken back here by Lynn alone, if Vale was in her place she would have escaped or died trying as an Elite should..

But still, something felt off for Vale.

"Ten hours huh, so that means Bassoon had more than ten hours to prepare for our arrival…"

"Do you think the others are okay?" Lynn asked.

"I'm not so sure anymore…"

Ten hours was more than enough to fly in fresh splatoon from the Nautilus base, or even battalions if Octavia felt like it.

But the fact that those saucers announcing the taking of hostages started flying around just now meant something was off.

'_If Octavia had an Elite watching one team, she would have easily guessed that we already knew about Bassoon prison. So why make that announcement now?'_

"Lynn, did anything happen between Eliza and the rest of your squad?"

'_If something did happen, then maybe Octavia is counting on infighting to take us down. Not a bad idea, since we are technically freedom fighters and freedom leads to internal conflicts. But I'm still here and in command.'_

"W-well umm… you see Eliza actually knew we were being watched before anyone else, yet she didn't speak to any of us about it."

"Do you know why?"

"U-umm, she only said like survival of the fittest, but I think that she was just counting on the Elites taking out Agent 3."

'_Just as I expected! I knew that putting Eliza with Agent 3 was a goo- bad idea!'_

"It may be rude to ask, but in the future could I not be put in the same squad as Eliza?"

"Don't worry about it, this was a mistake on my part to begin with."

Vale noticed how Lynn's shy behavior wasn't there when she requested to be separated from Eliza. Eliza must have really created a gap between her and the others.

Well it's not like she wanted to put Lynn in the front, she wanted to keep Lynn as a possible successor in case Victoria would take the job.

Yes, Vale had intended to have Victoria succeed her ever since requesting her aid in the first place.

She felt that Victoria would be as good of a soldier as Maria, the one who had her back during the salmonid war.

Vale brought herself back to the present quickly.

'_Dream about the future later, focus on the present now. What is Octavia's real angle here?'_

It couldn't be something as simple as 'use the families of Vale's troops as leverage to make them surrender.' If that was the case than Octavia would have attacked Lynn's team already since they had been discovered.

What was the goal here?

* * *

**Bassoon Prison, Octo Valley**

"Something's wrong, this is way too easy…."

"Ditto."

Victoria and Inker both remained on high alert.

Bassoon was now filled with Vale's troops who went about freeing the captured citizens.

They were all related or at least known by someone of Vale splatoon.

Among them was one face Victoria hadn't seen for a while.

"Victoria? What's going on here? Why was I arrested? They say that you joined a terrorist group. Is it true?"

Victoria hadn't seen Violet since she left the Undercity, she had forgotten how clueless her roommate could be at times.

"Terrorist group huh, so that's what Octavia's been calling us."

"It's true?"

"It's no terrorist organization, just a band of soldiers who lost faith in Octavia. Listen, the Acting Leader is nothing like DJ Octavio, she doesn't care if Octo Valley gets repaired, nor if we ever get the chance to head back to the surface. She just wants to be the leader of Octo Valley, to that end she's even willing to threaten the lives of innocent Octarians."

"But they said that everyone here was held on suspicion of aiding and abetting terror elements."

"Look around, do these fellow prisoners of yours look like terror suspects?"

The Octarians held here were mostly the families of Vale's soldiers.

Most of them were either elderly citizens or children.

The few that were both mature enough to work and not physically crippled were those that had common everyday jobs, like construction workers, cashiers and janitors.

Contrary to what Octavia and the army had said, these Octarians did not have faces full of anger directed towards the valley, rather they were scared or grateful to be freed.

None of them looked threatening at all.

"So what's going on here? Are we going to have to go on the run?" Violet asked.

"Seems so, for now we will take you back to our lair, then we will decide what to do."

Octarians mainly used hovering vehicles as transportation, though they had their downsides they were useful in Octo Valley, where paved roads are non existent.

Vale's troops began loading up the rescued citizens onto what looked like hovering trucks to Inker and the others.

In addition, all the prisoners had some of their own belongs with them, but space was limited so they would only take what they could carry.

Inker didn't help out, instead he watched from a distance along with Sky, Kal and Neon, because Victoria said that his presence might end up scaring the prisoners.

Thankfully that meant Inker was the first one to notice the incoming Octarian army.

He called out to his friends.

"Sky! Tell Victoria and the others that there are Octarian soldiers incoming! Neon, Kal get up here and get ready for a fight!"

Sky ran in the opposite direct while Kal and Neon joined Inker.

They would need to hold off the advancing army until they had evacuated, which was difficult considering the amount of prisoners they had rescued.

Victoria and the others will probably hurry it up once Sky told them what was coming.

It could have been described as the entire Octarian army.

A battalion of Octarians advanced towards Bassoon, in the lead was a line of Octotroopers inking the ground while various other Octarians followed.

They had to leave quickly.

Inker watched the approaching army, while scanning the area around him.

The Octarians were often sneaky when it came to attacking, so a big flashy advance like that had to be a coverup for something else right?

Then he noticed something else.

Far from the rest of the Octarians, one of their Octolings were speaking with some other Octoling in prison suits.

The way they hugged made it look like a touching reunion but...

'_Did they not know what was coming?'_

"Stay here guys, I'll be right back. And Neon don't leave Kal behind!"

"Hey that's in the past, I won't do something like that again!" Neon complained, but Inker already took off.

He couldn't tell who the Octoling was from afar, but once he got closer he realized that it was Eliza.

'_Not her again… What should I do here? Should I maybe get Victoria over here? No there's no time for me to head back.'_

Inker wished he had one of Neon's Squid Beakons to hop to right about now.

He really didn't think anything good would come out of appealing to Eliza anymore, but he wasn't the kind to leave someone behind.

As soon as he hopped down near Eliza though, Eliza shot him once.

"Ow! hey!"

"What are you doing here?"

Behind Eliza, there were two other Octolings, they both looked much older.

They also looked shocked when Inker showed up.

"Eliza, is that?"

"Yes, it's Eileen's killer."

Inker sighed, of course that's how Eliza would introduce him.

"Look, put your grudge aside for now, the entire Octarian army is coming. Why aren't you evacuating with the others?"

"I can take care of myself thank you, I don't need your help."

"Don't be an idiot! We need to go now! Do you even know how many Octarians are on their way here?!"

As he said that, there were sounds of Charger fire.

The Octarian army must have entered Neon's field of fire.

Which also mean't they were in plain view now.

Eliza saw what they were up against.

"Come on, we need to get out of here!"

"I can't believe I'm doing this….." Eliza muttered.

"Why are they shooting at us?" one of the other Octolings shouted.

"Octavia isn't above crushing any possible opposition. Ma, Pa stay close." Eliza said.

Though she kept a calm demeanor while evacuating her family, Eliza was kicking herself inside.

'_Twice! Not once but twice now! What is the meaning of this? Stop trying to play the hero Agent 3! You're supposed to be a villain! An evil, murderous, villain!'_

Eliza would not stop repeating the same thing to herself during the trip back to the lair.

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

When the rescued Octarians and Vale's soldiers returned, they began to reconnect with their families and other friends.

Vale took the time to explain their side of the story, as Octavia had given a twisted and fictional story about how she and her splatoon tried to overthrow the government for their own gains.

When that was done Inker went to speak with Captain Vale regarding Eliza's actions during the mission, to which Vale apologized for as she believed it was her own mistake pairing them together in the first place.

As for the others, they watched as the soldiers and rescued citizens smiled and celebrated their safe returns.

As for others, they comforted those who had lost someone.

"Victoria, have you seen Lynn anywhere?" Kal asked

"She probably somewhere in this crowd. Why?"

Kal still remembered his time in Melanin prison, where he met Lynn for the first time, along with her friends Claire and Madison.

They all had poor families who were dependent on them.

"I want to know if everything worked out for her and her friends after they helped me get out of Melanin."

He never had the chance to bring up the subject before, but now it was relevant.

Victoria didn't really know Lynn, but she knew the value of family in her society, so she accompanied Kal in search for Lynn.

They found her heading towards the infirmary.

There were three Octoling children holding her hands too.

"Yo Lynn." Kal waved

"Oh Kal, Victoria, good to see you're all back safe." Lynn said

One of the kids accompanying her point at Kal.

"Inkling!"

"Yes Kalus is an Inkling, don't worry, he's a friendly Inkling." Lynn said.

The Octoling children shook Kal's hand one by one.

"Nice to meet you, mr Kalus."

'_How cute'_ Kal thought.

"What's going on here Lynn? Babysitting for someone?" Victoria asked

"Sort of, well it's not like I have a choice, I'm surprised they were even among the prisoners to begin with."

"You know them?" Kal asked

"Yes, Kalus you remember Claire and Madison right?" Lynn looked at a young Octoling boy and girl holding her right hand. "Daniel and Jesse here were Claire's little brother and sister." then she introduced the other one. "And Leslie was Madison's sister. Umm Claire actually had two younger sisters but."

One of the little Octolings cut Lynn off.

"House went KABOOM and Letty went to a happier place, that's what firefighters said."

"Daniel, don't interrupt." snapped another child

"Sowwy."

Lynn smiled at the well mannered children.

"I think I might end up with a lot on my hands now, these kids don't really know anyone else except me, so I feel like I should look out for them."

"Well good luck." Victoria said

"Thanks, actually do you mind watching them for a sec, there's someone I need to see."

Lynn let go of the three Octoling children and went over to an old Octoling who was struggling to sit up in the infirmary.

"You really shouldn't push yourself dad."

"I can't keep depending on others Lynn."

"You can depend on me, both you and mom… U-umm, I couldn't find her among the others, does that mean…."

"Yes, sadly she passed away, after your checks stopped coming."

"I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault, if you didn't follow your captain, we would have lost you too."

Kal and Victoria didn't interrupt, they watched Lynn and her father mourn in silence.

Kal remembered speaking to Lynn for the first time at Melanin Prison

'_I'm Lynn, 86 Radula Blvd is my parents home, i'm an only child and both my parents are gravely ill, because of this they depend on me to send medicine and save up enough money for a doctor. They could not possibly do anything to hurt any Inkling, so please keep Agent 3's rampage away from them.'_

Even though he didn't know Lynn that well, Kal felt sorry for her loss, since in Inkopolis, losing someone to a cause other than old age was extremely rare.

Then Victoria noticed her former roommate Violet helping out in the infirmary.

She did have a medical background after all, so it was no surprise that she would be there.

"Ahh Victoria."

Violet noticed her and came over.

Victoria hadn't forgotten how Violet sold her out to the Elites back then.

"You aren't still mad over what happened are you?" Violet asked.

Victoria did want to keep blaming Violet, but…

"After seeing how childish a certain squadmate looked when she was constantly empathizing her grudge towards Agent 3, I've realised it was better to learn to let go over time. So no, we're good."

"Oh good, I was worried what you'd do to me once we got to safety." Violet said, relieved.

Victoria turned to Kal "Am I really that scary?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Oh good."

Violet recalled something else.

"I don't want to bring back bad memories, but you should know that I buried your parent's corpses not far from the Undercity, the place is marked with a piece of wall from your old home."

Victoria knew that the custom for the corpses of traitors or criminals was to just leave them out to rot someone far from Octo Valley. She guessed that Violet was told to do just that, but disobeyed whoever told her to do so.

"Thank you."

"There one more thing…"

"?"

Violet held out a pair of Octoling goggles and handed it to Victoria.

"I took this off of one of the bodies, I heard a soldier mention that it may be needed for investigating what happened. They branded your folks as terrorists you know, maybe this can prove that they weren't."

Victoria knew what this meant.

Octoling goggles record up to 72 hours of footage and would automatically do so when it was being worn.

It's how soldiers who are splatted in battle are identified.

But in this case, these goggles probably recorded her parents' last moments.

Victoria spent a lot of time trying to forget that night, but she also wondered why they would sacrifice themselves for her the way they did.

Now maybe she'd find out.

Victoria hugged Violet.

"Thank you. If things ever go back to normal, let's return to the Undercity together."

With the goggles in hand, Victoria left the infirmary.

Victoria didn't feel like watching what was on these goggles alone.

But she didn't want to trouble anyone else by asking for their company.

Though Kal followed her out of the infirmary, probably out of concern, Victoria didn't want to expose Kal to the footage of Octarians burning alive.

There was somebody else would would probably be interested though.

Someone who once served alongside her mother in the Octarian army, Captain Emily Vale.

* * *

While Kal and Victoria were in the infirmary, Inker was discussing things with Captain Vale.

"... So we barely managed to get out in time, and it seems like we weren't followed." Inker said.

"It's a good thing you still managed to come through despite the way Eliza's been acting, though I'm not really in a position to talk. But are you sure that you weren't followed?"

"Of course not, we lost the army not long after leaving Bassoon and splitting up."

"That's strange…"

"Why is that."

"The Octarian army has flying saucers for a reason, it's strange that even with such fast patrol craft, they'd be unable to find even one of you."

"Oh, so i'm not the one feeling like something isn't right."

Both Inker and Vale had thought that something was wrong with the way that mission went.

"How many soldiers were guarding Bassoon?" Vale asked

"Not much that's for sure, it didn't take us very long to capture or splat them all."

"That's not very reassuring."

"I know right, we were already being watched by an Elite, even if we did managed to catch her, she still had more than enough time to alert the rest of the army. So why was Bassoon so underprotected?"

"I'm wondering the same thing. Lynn said you guys captured the Elite ten hours before the raid on Bassoon. Ten hours is more than enough to transport a few battalions from Nautilus to Bassoon. I'm starting to think that maybe Octavia wanted us to come rescue the hostages."

Inker and Vale both thought hard about what Octavia's angle might have been.

"Do you think there's a spy mixed in with the hostages?"

"Unlikely, since each hostage is well known to someone in my splatoon."

"What if they were brainwashed? Like Lila?"

"That would take too long, the only method they could have used would be the easiest and quickest way: implanting trigger words. But if they used trigger words, they would need a way to contact the brainwashed in order to control them, that worked with Lila because it's easy to call someone living in Inkopolis. There is a possibility, but we are in a lair with no contact with the outside world."

"Then I'm out of ideas, I'm really not used to this kind of stuff."

"You'll do well to learn then, at the same time brush up on your hand to hand combat, how can you let yourself be outdone by someone who isn't even a soldier?"

"That's because it's Neon, she seems like a carefree and simple person, but she's actually unpredictable."

"Hmm, she's quite talented too, with the right guidance I think she'll surpass even you."

"Hey don't tell me you plan on taking Neon under your wing as a soldier."

"No way."

Vale and Inker kept wondering, what could they have missed?

"Maybe the Elite we captured will tell us?"

"If only it was that simple, she may be an upstart, but an Elite is still and Elite, they won't talk without proper motivation."

"Motivation?"

"Threaten someone close to them, cut off one of their limbs, or maybe put them on the verge of death."

Vale was talking of torture, as a former Elite Octoling herself, Vale was used to both doing it and resisting it thanks to Octarian counter torture training.

"Yeah….. heh…. I don't think we should do something like that." Inker said

"What choice do we have?"

"Uhh I don't know, maybe something will come up? We'll be busy taking care of everyone for the moment so maybe hold off on your torture."

"Busy taking care of everyone, that could be it actually, maybe Octavia wants us to busy ourselves taking care of citizens so that we can't focus on bringing her down?"

"Maybe, I'm really out of my league here, rescuing zapfish was much easier than this."

"Not everything is that simple, well if you can't think of anything then you're dismissed, go get some rations before the rest…."

Vale stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Rations! Maybe that's it! By letting us rescue everyone we cared about, Octavia gave us hundreds of mouths to feed."

"In other words?"

"She wants us to run out of food and wear down our supplies. That will force us to raid the Undercity or other places. Then it will be even easier to make us look like the bad guys….

Octavia took advantage of me and my splatoons' emotions. Leave me for now, I need to come up with a counter strategy."

As ordered, Inker left Vale to herself.

'_I say that but, am I still fit to be in command?'_

Another Elite probably would have seen that ploy and ignored rescuing the prisoners.

'_And why did I object to training Neon? That girl has a lot of potential. Normally I wouldn't have a problem, why is it that I seem to hate Inklings so much, yet I can't seem to find a reason?'_

There was a lot on her mind, Vale even thought back to tossing Inklings into boiling pits for relaxation.

Why did she enjoy such a thing? Why couldn't she think of a reason?

Since leaving the army, Vale began to notice these things about herself.

She wanted to save her subordinates, but now she also wanted answers.


	34. Internal Conflict

**Octo Valley, Guerilla hideout**

Eliza was not feeling so fresh.

Sure she got her family out of Bassoon, well what was left of it at least.

But it didn't feel right.

Because once again she got careless and Agent 3 had to help her.

First at the rig, he distracted an overwhelming force so that Eliza and her squad could escape.

Now he went to find her when she ran off on her on in Bassoon prison so that he could alert he that the Octarian army was coming.

Although indirect, anyone seeing these events would note that it was thanks to Agent 3 that Eliza was still alive.

This really didn't sit well with her.

Eliza had made destroying Agent 3 her life's goal ever since her younger sister Elieen's 19th birthday.

That was the day Eileen was supposed to come home to celebrate her first year in the army.

Eliza and her family had planned a surprise party that day, they had cake ready, candles lit and an eagerness to see Eileen's surprised face, but Eileen never came home that day.

Because on that same day, Agent 3 attacked the Kelp Dome, where Eileen was stationed.

It wasn't until the next day that an Elite Octoling would show up to inform them that Eileen was killed in the line of duty.

A day of celebration was turned into a day of mourning when the Elite handed to them a note left behind by Eileen shortly before the battle.

Although the entire remaining family mourned their loss, Eliza's bloodline had been full of soldiers, so the rest of her family had been prepared for losses.

But not Eliza and not on that day. She was shaken by the news and took some time away from the army, by the time she returned she was determined to face Agent 3 someday and make him pay.

She had dreamt of countless battles with Agent 3, all with a different outcome.

Sometimes 3 would fight to the death.

Other times he would beg for mercy.

Maybe Eliza would splat him right away, or maybe she would have fun tormenting him while keeping him on the verge of death.

Out of all the possible outcomes, Eliza would have never imagined being forced to work with the guy.

'_And what was with that personality of his? Why does he go around putting his life on the line while assuming that by some extraordinary event, Inkopolis and Octo Valley will make peace?'_

She hated to admit it, but Lynn had been somewhat right.

Agent 3 saved her life and ruined her revenge.

Twice now.

It pissed her off.

Eliza felt that Agent 3 had no right to be here, especially since he was the one who captured Octavio in the first place, putting them in this mess.

He was supposed to be their greatest enemy, a final boss type character who you were supposed to fight to secure peace and power for the valley.

Killing Eileen was proof of that, at least to her.

Eliza was angry and a bit confused, but mostly angry.

So when she passed by the sparring room and saw Agent 3 training with his Inkling buddies and Captain Vale, she lost it.

She couldn't stand just sitting idly by as this interloper, who killed her sister, went around playing hero.

It didn't matter if he saved her twice, she was going to knock him down a peg or two.

Although Octobrushes were considered obsolete compared to the Octoshot, Captain Vale had taken quite a lot of the old Octobrushes out of storage for conversion into Rollers.

Taking inventory was part of Eliza's everyday job, so she knew where they were stored and how many were still left as brushes.

They were mostly used for ceremonial purposes in the army now, but Eliza knew how to use the old weapon and she was quite good at it.

With a brush in hand, Eliza returned to the sparring room and tossed one of her gloves at Agent 3.

He stood there with a clueless face, while the Octolings and Octotroopers around them went silent.

As for Vale, she took a stern and commanding tone.

"Eliza stop! I forbid you from cause any more infighting between us!"

But Eliza ignored her.

She knew that the captain would punish her later, she'll probably be forced to run laps and then clean all the toilets in the lair, but she didn't care.

In the midst of everyone, Agent 3 held and stared at the thrown glove with confusion.

"Why is everyone murmuring? What's going on?" Inker asked

One moment he's getting tips from Captain Vale on how too fight, then all of a sudden somebody threw something at him. Now Vale was shouting at someone and Octarians were gathering around them.

"Octoling trooper Eliza Pierce, I order you to stop at once!"

Despite Vale's orders, Inker found himself facing Eliza in the middle of the sparring room.

Eliza pointed the tip of her Octobrush at him.

"Defend yourself."

"Seriously what is going on?!" Inker exclaimed.

"Before the Great Turf War, Octarians would challenge each other to Octobrush duels in a similar manner." Victoria explained, she had been coaching Kal a moment ago but now they were also part of the crowd.

Inker somewhat understood now.

"Sky, pass me your Roller." Inker said, Sky did just that, he hurried out of the crowd and quickly passed his Splat Roller to Inker before hurrying back.

Inker had not used a Roller in a long time, though he was confident he would come through.

He attached the Splat Roller to his Ink Tank and swung it around to check it's balance, then he rolled the tip on the ground to get rid of the remaining Cyan ink.

By now Captain Vale had stopped trying to order Eliza to stand down, instead she stood by with an annoyed expression as she watched Eliza tune out her surroundings, focusing solely on Agent 3.

Inker held the Splat Roller firmly, letting the tip roll on the ground, but before he could open his mouth to say 'ready' Eliza charged at with with tremendous speed.

"Whoa!" Inker barely had time to react, he changed to squid form and passed under Eliza and reappeared behind her.

He thought this would put him in a better position, since he would no longer be on the dangerous side of the Octobrush, if this was Turf wars he'd be right.

But this was not, there weren't really any rules at all here, Eliza jabbed the back of her Octobrush into Inker, then she raised a foot and kicked him back, turning around to face him in the process.

It was not like any Inkbrush user Inker ever fought before.

Eliza didn't focus on covering turf, nor did she use any bombs, she used the Octobrush like a spear, attempting to keep Inker at a favorable distance while swinging the tip of the brush at him.

She could even intercept Inker's swing's mid way using the brush.

Inker quickly realised this was a different type of battle, it wasn't about rolling over your opponent or covering turf, it was more akin to fencing but with longer weapons.

Still that didn't bother him too much.

Inker's Roller had an advantage of covering a wider area, he used this to his advantage when Eliza was flailing the Octobrush in front of him, successfully blocking any ink from getting to him.

When Eliza slashed at Inker, he would knock it down using the wide end of the Roller.

However Eliza had her advantages too.

Eliza's Octobrush was much lighter and easier to swing around, allowing her to attack from different directions and putting Inker on the defensive.

She slashed at Inker, while Inker used the wideness of the Roller to block her strokes.

On the sidelines, Captain Vale, Victoria, Lynn, Kal, Sky and Neon were all there watching.

Vale remained wordless as she watched the blue and dark magenta ink fly every time the brush and roller clashed.

Kal and Sky watched with awe, as they had never seen anything of the sort before.

Neon on the other hand, was cheering as if she was watching a sports game, which drew the attention of everyone else.

Lynn on the other hand, was worried.

"U-umm Victoria, should we maybe try and stop them?"

"What's the use, Eliza won't even listen to her commanding officer anymore."

"But at this rate, somebody is going to get hurt."

"Yeah I think so too, I just hope Inker catches on before she can splat him."

"Umm I was referring to Eliza, can she really beat Agent 3?"

"Under normal circumstances no, but Inker is the kind to hold back since he really wants to show that he doesn't want conflict between our races. Because of that he doesn't seem to notice that Eliza isn't attacking him directly, but rather stalling as she covers turf around him."

Now that Victoria pointed it out, Lynn noticed the ground.

Inker was still standing on a patch of blue ink, but since Eliza was flailing the Octobrush around, dark magenta ink dominated the floor.

Inker was able to block Eliza's hits, but only because Eliza was slashing with the brush.

Though Lynn wasn't sure what Eliza was planning to do here, neither did Victoria, they only knew that it had something to do with turf.

With Inker surrounded by a ring of magenta, Eliza balanced herself and thrust her Octobrush like a spear.

She knew that the Roller and Octobrush were both technically pole weapons, so parrying a thrust would be much more difficult. Instead of parrying Agent 3 would have to step back.

Inker did just that, he took a large step backwards and leaned backwards to avoid the thrust, when he did, his foot snuck into magenta ink.

Just like in fencing, balance was important here, lose balance and you'll be wide open for an attack.

Inker felt himself fall backwards, he couldn't focus on Eliza anymore, he brought his Roller down to the ground to help stabilize himself as his feet moved awkwardly to even himself out.

Once he had recovered, his roller clashed with Eliza's brush once again.

He couldn't stay on the defensive like this, especially with Eliza limiting his movement so much.

Inker would fling ink with the Roller, taking care not to hit some random Octoling in the crowd, Eliza was easily fast enough to dodge, but this way Inker had more room to work with.

He had to find a way around Eliza's range advantage.

Inker took a step further back and hooked Eliza's brush using the wide end of the roller.

Of course Eliza would just retract her brush to free it.

Inker took this opportunity to close the distance, forcing Eliza to step back to avoid the roller.

Then all of a sudden, Eliza tossed away her Octobrush.

"It's my loss." she said, turning away and leaving without another word.

"?" Inker was confused.

"What just happened?"

Inker thought it was game over when he slipped, but somehow he won?

Did he? He just started fighting Eliza so suddenly that he wasn't sure what his goal was.

Inker handed Sky his Splat Roller back.

"Did you guys make any sense of that?" Inker asked.

"It just looked like Eliza's usual self." Kal said

"I think Eliza will need some time alone." Lynn added.

Victoria nodded. "Yes of course, let Vale punish her and maybe she'll take the time to learn. By the way Inker did you notice anything strange?"

"Uhhh, I was too focused so I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Did you?"

"U-umm not me." Lynn replied.

Sky and Kal both shook their heads.

"Yep!" Neon proudly said.

"You did? What happened?" Inker asked.

Victoria answered in Neon's place "you lost that duel Inker."

"I did?"

Inker's first guess was _'is there some kind of rule I didn't know about?'_

"When you lost balance, Eliza should have taken you out. I'm not sure why she didn't." Victoria explained

"Ahh I see, truth be told, I was really worried when I stepped into her ink back there."

"You probably won't notice it yourself, but you were wobbling for a good three seconds there, more than enough time for Eliza to take a stab at you."

"You don't have to keep emphasizing that part."

"What i'm trying to say is, Eliza hesitated for some reason, that's probably why she's left. Likely out of frustration or regret, or possibly both."

Inker wondered if Eliza would try something like this again.

"Well looks like that's over with, we should get back to training. Train like you fight and fight like you train." Captain Vale said, dispersing the crowd that had gathered.

Inker and the others asked her about Eliza and what she was planning to do about her.

Vale shook her head. "I'm not sure, the thing is Eliza never acted out like this before, she was always well disciplined and knew the consequences of insubordination. Besides what can I do in this situation? We aren't part of the regular army anymore so I can't just kick her out, then she'd end up captured by Octavia and squeezed for intel or killed."

"At least do something to prevent this from happening again!" Inker said

"I'm trying! Actually I'm not even sure if I can do so. As much as I hate to say this, I've noticed that sometimes I do things that go against my usual self and it usually involves getting rid of you and the other Inklings."

"Huh? Wait so that's why you put us with Eliza during the Bassoon prison raid?"

"Yes and I'm unsure what's the reason for it. Maybe Octavia is screwing with me somehow, or maybe it's the pressure from having to constantly watch our backs. Bottom line is I don't know what I should do now."

Vale was quiet for a moment as she considered everything going on.

"I'm going to see what I can get out of that Elite Octoling you captured. With any luck we can get some dirt on Octavia and win some support from the Undercity's populace."

"What about Eliza?"

"She already knows the consequences of acting out like this. She has probably started running laps or scrubbing the toilets on her own. Lynn you should go check."

"Right away!"

* * *

After that incident, Lynn found Eliza cleaning the toilets as punishment, though she had started on her own without Vale giving her the order.

Lynn tried to speak with Eliza to figure out what happened but Eliza wouldn't say a word.

Inker didn't run into any further trouble with Eliza after that.

Though he really wanted to know what had happened that day, why did Eliza just snap and then suddenly leave?

That would have to wait for later, because for now they had other problems.

Since they had rescued so many Octarains from Bassoon prison, they needed three times more food to keep everyone fed, not only that but the lair was slightly cramped now.

Vale and her splatoon were outlaws, so the only way they could get more space or food was by raiding Octo Valley.

This puts pressure on Captain Vale to figure out how can they justify their actions against Acting Leader Octavia.

Vale couldn't get that Elite Octoling to talk, as she would only state her name and rank repeatedly.

As she and Inker were wondering what to do, Victoria showed up along with Kal, she held a pair of goggles in her hand.

"Captain, there is something you should see. Kal you should probably leave."

"Huh? Why?"

"It's well complicated."

"I'll stay, I hate feeling useless in situations like this, so I'd like to know what's happening."

"Alright then, just so you know I won't mind if you cover your eyes."

"Just what are you planning on doing?!"

"Watching whatever is on these goggles."

Victoria knew that it could possibly contain footage of her parents burning to death, as much as she didn't want to see it, she wanted to know what happened.

Captain Vale had mentioned serving alongside her mother in the army, so Victoria felt that it was right for her to find out what happened to her former comrade.

For some reason Kal had come with her. Victoria wasn't going to complain since she did trouble him quite a bit after her parents' deaths.

After explaining what had happened before, Vale understood what she was about to watch, though there was something else she was interested in.

For now she would watch and find out what had happened to her former superior officer.

From an Elite Octoling's point of view, Victoria watched as she was brought back to her childhood home.

She watched as the team of Elite Octolings blasted the front door to smithereens.

She watched as they took note of the soggy ground, only to cover everything in ink.

Finally she watched as they searched every room for her, when they didn't find her they confronted her parents who were sitting calmly at the dinner table, as if the presence of the Elite Octolings didn't bother them at all.

_"Where is your daughter?"_

_"Victoria? She doesn't visit anymore. _ _You should probably start cleaning the mess you've made."_

_"Don't lie to us, we know she was here, we got a reliable source telling us that she came to visit you with two Inklings just hours ago!"_

_"My, aren't you being rude for a bunch of uninvited guests, if Victoria isn't here there's nothing we can do about it."_

_"Take them away, for questioning."_

Victoria watched two Elite Octolings approached her parents, only for her mother Maria to fight them off.

"_Raising a fist against Elite Octolings is a crime, one that will be added to treason against the state if you don't tell us where your daughter is."_

_"Don't think you can bully everyone around just cause you got seaweed in your head." Maria replied_

_"We have full authority and may do whatever we see fit, if you continue to resist we will use force to bring you and your husband in for questioning."_

_"Try it, I took all my skills with me when I left the army."_

_"So i've heard, former first lieutenant Maria Holter, you had quite the number of accomplishments before you left, but there's only one of you, that schoolteacher you married won't do much, and we are all Elites, we all had the same training as you."_

_"Really? Well you've done your homework, you seem to know everything." That was her father Robert speaking, both Octolings stood up from their seats now._

_"Surely you can't be so stupid as to try and take us on with your bare fists." the lead Elite said, almost laughing at the pitiful bit of resistance Maria and Robert could offer. "Oh well, it doesn't matter whether you talk or not, your daughter is a criminal, who has helped Inklings act against us, we will find her and execute her with or without your cooperation. Don't think you can escape, we know how you'll fight, and we have weapons."_

_"That you do" Maria replied "But there's two things you don't know, number one: you are standing in oil."_

_Whoever was wearing the goggles at the time must have looked away, because the footage was too shakely to watch for a while, then they heard the voice of Victoria's mother again._

_"Number two." Maria and Robert glanced at each other before speaking at the same time._

_"We'll do anything to protect our daughter."_

Victoria saw a split second of what appeared to be the sight of her parents flipping over the dinner table, then there was flames, lots of flames.

Flames and screaming, the footage once again became extremely shaky.

Kal had closed his eyes by now, while he resisted the urge to cover his ears.

Victoria also wanted to stop, but kept watching.

When the image was clear again, they had a clear sight of the room.

Pretty much everything was blaze, but in the midst of all this, Robert and Maria righted the flipped table which was now half burning.

Even though there was fire all around them, both Robert and Maria looked calm.

_"Well this is it" Robert said, "Too bad we couldn't live a bit longer."_

_"Yeah, real shame, haha. I wish I could see what kind of guy our daughter would fall in love with."_

_"I wish we could see her on her wedding day, wearing a white dress, as happy as can be."_

_"I wish we could have held our grandchildren in our arms, telling them stories while rocking them to sleep."_

_"Oh man, we should stop, otherwise the regrets will start piling up..."_

_"Do you think we made a mistake, reuniting right before this happened?" Robert asked_

_"No… Even if it was just for a moment, I'm glad we were able to sit down and have dinner like a family."_

_"You still miss your folks don't you."_

_"Of course I do, and now that we are about to join them, Victoria will miss us too, history repeats itself doesn't it?"_

_"Yes, hopefully Victoria won't feel devastated like you did."_

_"She will, but it's fine, she's found some great friends, they might be Inklings, but they are different from the citizens of Octo Valley, they'll look after her for us, especially Kalus."_

_The fire kept spreading, getting closer to them with every passing second, it wouldn't be long now._

_Robert smiled "Well then, at least we can say our family lives on with Victoria."_

_"Yes, are you okay with this? You were the one who convinced me to leave the army since you wanted to avoid any danger, yet here i've dragged you into this." Maria said_

_"Of course."_

_"Really? So you have no second thoughts? You're satisfied with the life you've had?"_

_"Definitely, after all I married you, what else could I have possibly asked for?"_

_The two shared one last kiss as the roof collapsed in a storm of embers, burying the two Octolings…_

Victoria's eyes squeezed shut when that happened, so Vale stopped the recording.

When Victoria came to she realised that someone was holding her hand.

She shook off Kal and stood silently for a while.

"Well, at the very least we can say that they passed away without regrets." Kal assured her.

Victoria thought that after getting over her loss and spending these last two months doing other things she wouldn't be affected this much by that footage.

Well she was still glad she watched it, now she felt some sort of closure knowing exactly what had happened.

While she was thinking about this, Vale rewinded the footage.

She was interested in something else, as mentioned earlier.

That was the footage of the Elite Octolings breaking into Victoria and Violet's apartment, accusing Violet of treason and thrashing the place before Violet finally gave up what she knew.

She rewound it further.

The Elites had actually been going door to door, barging into people's property at random and accusing them of treason and destroying their belongings just like they did with Violet.

Watching this worsened Victoria's opinion of the Elite Octolings.

"I can use this.." Vale muttered

"Say, how far have you gotten with that Elite Octoling?" Victoria suddenly asked.

"Hmm? Nowhere really, I do have some surefire methods of getting someone to speak, but I lack the tools."

"What are these methods?"

"First I'll use a knife to make cuts on each of the subject's arms and legs, that usually won't do the trick, but if then you switch to a chainsaw and saw off one…"

Kal, not wanting to picture such things silently left the room.

Inker didn't like it either.

"I really didn't need to hear that."

"It works though, you won't die from losing an arm, at least not right away, nobody wants to spend the rest of their lives missing limbs they could have kept, so once they know you are serious about amputating them they'll talk once you start removing another…"

"You sound like you're speaking from experience."

"I am, I became an Elite Octoling during the Salmonid war, so is it really that surprising that I'd have done enhanced interrogation with Salmonids?"

"Please stop explaining these things, I don't want nightmares thank you."

"It's not that gruesome once you're used to it, oh but you're a kid from Inkopolis so it can't be helped."

_'Ahh! Watch yourself Vale, no need to act hostile towards Agent 3.'_ The captain told herself.

"Speaking of Inkopolis, do you think we can bring the Elite there?" Victoria suggested

"I don't think that you can convince an Elite to change sides by showing her Inkopolis." Inker replied

"Not that. I think I know how we can make her talk without chopping her up."

Vale was intrigued, what could this young Octoling come up with?

"Well, I'd like to see it. I'll have Lynn take a squad and distract the Octarian army while we head back to Inkopolis."

"I'll let the Cap'n and the others know we are coming."

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

Victoria, Inker, Kal and Captain Vale quickly made their way over to Cuttlefish's shack while the Octarian army was busy with a 'certain group' trying to sneak into the Undercity again.

By the way Neon had volunteered to join the group, which is why she wasn't present, as for Sky he was still trying to learn the Octarian language.

Victoria was now wearing her Inkopolis outfit again, making her look just like any Inkling wearing a helmet.

The one who stood out most was Captain Vale, who still wore Octoling armor and had an Octoshot slung across her back.

Vale was also carrying the Elite Octoling over her shoulder, who had been tied up so well it was like she was in a sleeping bag made of rope.

Still that Elite looked somewhat familiar to Victoria, though she didn't know from where.

Whatever if anything she should focus on how Vale would be incredibly suspicious in Inkopolis.

When they arrived however, Callie ran towards them waving her hands for them to stop.

"Ahh! Agent 3 you are too early."

"Early?"

Inker peeked behind Callie and saw that Marie and Cuttlefish were quickly trying to conceal DJ Octavio's snowglobe.

Vale was curious as to what was happening over there, but Callie would not let her look.

Suspicious, Vale decided she would return later to see what they were trying to hide.

"By the way Captain, shouldn't you at least try to look less conspicuous?" Victoria asked.

"Oh there is no need, I convinced Crusty Sean to let me borrow his food truck." Callie said

"Crusty Sean has a food truck?" Inker wondered.

"Oh yeah, apparently he was thinking of leaving Shrimp Kicks to someone else and starting up a new business. By the way, since I'm the only one with a license and the one who borrowed the truck i'm driving, so you gotta tell me where we're going."

Inker turned to Victoria, since this was her idea, so she should know where they were headed.

"Calamari county." Victoria replied.

Callie gasped "Oh my cod! why didn't you guys tell me we were going there! Hey Marie! We are going back to our home town!"

"Hey we aren't going on a pleasure trip, we just need to head out there and find a sugar cane field."

"Okay I know a place, but why a sugar cane field?" Marie asked.

"You'll find out when we get there."

"Just don't cause any trouble."

Victoria could have told them already, but not with the Elite Octoling present.

The group left Cuttlefish behind and passed through the manhole, they found a food truck parked right in front of the manhole, so the group quickly got in before anyone could really spot them.

Even if someone did spot them, Cuttlefish had already told Defense Minister Arcus about their arrival, so there shouldn't be any problems.

With everyone on board, Callie put the truck in gear and they were off.

"Good idea bringing the food truck, the back is a bit cramped but there is enough room for everyone here." Kal said.

Callie beamed at the compliment "I know right! If I had brought my convertible we'd be even more cramped!"

"Yeah that's it, totally not because you hit a curb driving your car two days prior and broke a control arm. Right?" Marie remarked.

"I told you not to mention that!"

"Hey eyes on the road Cal! Don't crash again!"

"I didn't crash! Hitting the curb doesn't count!"

It had been a while since he last saw the Squid Sisters, Inker grinned at the familiar sight of the two squabelling.

Captain Vale would just observe silently.

_'So that's Agents 1 and 2? 1 is strangely cheerful and relaxed for a veteran agent. I thought 3 was naive because he was young, but it looks like the others are equally naive. Or maybe it's those personalities that give off that impression? Actually 2 seems much more serious, she'd probably be the most dangerous among them…_

_Why am I treating them like enemies again?_

_They don't appear to be on guard even though I'm here, how very strange, I haven't met them before or have even spoken to them yet, they should be more aware that an armed and dangerous Elite Octoling is standing right here._

_Huh I'm doing it again. I should stop._

_Though the way they aren't even bothered by my presence is strangely infuriating because…._

_Why? It's never bothered me before when Octarians treated me the same way._

"Why do you have to turn the radio up so loud!?"

"It sounds better this way!"

"No it isn't! My eardrums are going to burst."

"The driver gets control of the radio!"

Callie and Marie were arguing over the radio volume, which was blasting Calamari Inkantation.

As Vale watched the two supposed Agents fight over the volume adjuster, she decided her lower her opinion of the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

'_No I should stop, I'll look away and distract myself, I feel as if I'd go hostile any moment now.'_

* * *

**Calamari County, farmlands**

By Victoria's request, Callie and Marie brought the group to a sugar cane field.

Victoria had Vale, remove some of the constraints binding the Elite Octoling and ungag her before they carried her out into the field.

Curious, Inker and Kalus followed.

Victoria found a place where a lot of sugar cane had fallen for some reason, that's where she and Vale set down the Elite Octoling.

"Are you going to tell me what you're planning?" Vale asked Victoria.

"Ahh yes, just give me a second."

Victoria had with her, a simple butter knife and a jar of peanut butter.

When the Elite saw the knife she simply laughed.

"And what do you plan on doing with such a dull blade? Make me a sandwich? No wonder you couldn't become an Elite."

That's when it dawned on Victoria, this was one of her splatoon-mates back when she was serving in Nautilus base.

This was that young girl who was so excited about becoming an Elite Octoling back then, who also recommended Victoria to Octavia for promotion to the Elite ranks.

"Oh I remember you now, guess they are really scraping the bottom of the barrel."

Victoria didn't expect that such a green and inexperienced Octoling could become an Elite, perhaps Octavia was lowering the requirements to become and Elite Octoling due to recent losses.

Even if she knew this girl once, Victoria was not going to hold back. After all Victoria didn't hesitate to use her squadmates before, nor did she hold back in splating Elite Octolings as long as she thought she was doing the right thing.

To Vale's confusion, Victoria began to spread peanut butter over the exposed parts of the Elite Octoling, such as her midriff, arms and face.

"Say Vale, did you know that birds were present since ancient times? Some archaeologists even theorize that birds existed long before Inklings and Octarians did, they are technically prehistoric animals." Victoria said

Vale was even more confused, though she'd play along because she was curious as to what Victoria could come up with.

"Uhh no."

"Well neither did I, I'm not a bookworm or anything, but when I came to Inkopolis for a second time, I couldn't head outside thanks to the Vanguard movement, so I stayed with Kalus and read some stuff he had like magazines and travel brochures. In one article about Calamari County, there was something about birds and mice. You see, they say that the reason that birds didn't go extinct during the great floods like mammals did, was because they could fly. But even though most larger mammals died out, there was one small mammal that didn't: field mice."

As Victoria began what was quickly becoming a nature documentary, she continued to spread peanut butter over the Elite Octoling's skin.

Victoria continued "Now the reason for this is still unknown to Inklings, but that aside field mice have been cause trouble for Calamari County's sugar cane farmers for centuries, they love the taste of sugar cane after all, that's why there are so many fallen canes here." Victoria said pointing at the fallen canes around them.

"Since Inklings know that mice are pretty much prehistoric, some farmers thought that bringing in eagles would get rid of the problem, since they are the natural predator of the field mouse. Sadly field mice are nocturnal, which means they are active at night, so they should have brought in owls cause the eagles couldn't do anything, you know what that means? Anyone?"

Victoria paused and glanced at everyone present, as if she was a teacher giving a lesson.

"Nobody? Well then."

Victoria finished slathering peanut butter on the Elite Octoling, she sat in front of her and said to her directly.

"It means that at night, those little mice are crawling everywhere in these fields nibbling through canes with their sharp little teeth."

Victoria picked up a fallen cane and showed the part where mice had chewn right through.

"Feels bad for whoever owns this place right? Well luckily for him or her, that won't happen tonight, because there is one thing field mice love even more than sugar cane. Know what it is? I'll give you a hint."

Victoria slowly licked the peanut butter off the knife she was holding, savoring both it and the look of fear in the Elite's eyes.

Captain Vale, knowing what Victoria had planned, couldn't help but smile.

The Elite Octolings in the past never encountered a method like this, since they aren't aware of this method they aren't trained to deal with it.

If Vale had been left to stab and dismember this Elite Octoling she may have resisted it, since Elite Octolings go through counter-interrogation training, which they must resist being whipped and beaten.

But Victoria isn't doing any of that, it was really clever.

Vale made sure to commend Victoria later.

Instead, she left the Elite tied up on the ground and turned away.

The Elite was prepared to be beaten, but she wasn't prepared for this.

Victoria had suggested an unfortunate scenario to the Elite, that suggestion alone was like a see which would sprout quickly and take effect.

"Hey aren't you supposed to get something out of this?" Kal said as Victoria walked by.

"What are you talking about? I just wanted to show off some random knowledge like Neon did. Come on let's get back to the truck."

That was a lie, though the way Victoria said it so casually to Kal made it all the more believable.

Victoria left, with Captain Vale in tow.

"Wait you are both leaving? What if I decide to speak? What did you even want to know?!" the Elite shouted behind them.

Neither Octoling replied as they hiked back out of the field and back towards the truck.

Kal and Inker had both come along and neither of them wanted to leave this Elite behind after what Victoria had just revealed.

"This isn't a crime is it?" Kal wondered

"I don't know but I sure don't feel like we're the good guys anymore."

"Victoria will come back for her, probably.. I hope she will at least, I don't think Victoria is that kind of person."

"Yeah okay let's head back and…"

"Agent 3!" the Elite Octoling called out. "You aren't okay with this right?! I'm an Elite you know, I know what are rumors and what aren't. You are actually a noble warrior of justice right? You won't just leave me here like those two traitors?"

"Uhhhhh."

Though Inker wasn't sure if he could be described as a "warrior of justice" after meeting Octarians like Eliza, it went against his conscience to leave a living being behind to be devoured by rodents.

Inker couldn't decide what to do…

That's when he felt someone grab his hand.

Vale had returned and pulled Inker away from the Elite, leaving Kal alone doing double takes before chasing after Inker shouting "wait for me!"

Inker and the others returned to the food truck, where Callie and Marie were waiting.

"Hey what's wrong Agent 3? Why the long face?" Callie asked

"I think I just witnessed a crime."

"?"

Victoria corrected him "Oh don't worry, Elite do things like this all the time. By the way we aren't leaving her to get eaten alive out here, let's go for a tour around Calamari county and come back just as the sun goes down, by then that Octoling will be scared and tired, she'll be more than ready to talk."

"Are you really okay with this? I mean you are basically leaving one of your own kind defenseless."

"It's fine, even if the mice come out early we can have Violet treat her once we get back."

In response to this Kal stared wide eyed at Victoria.

"What?"

"Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"You shouldn't be surprised, you of all Inklings should know how serious I take being a soldier."

"This is beyond that!"

"Just trust me on this. Callie get us out of here."

"Okay!"

They left their prisoner alone in a sugar cane field.

"I'm impressed Holter." Vale said.

"Thank you captain." Victoria replied.

"To think that you'd be able to avoid all the counter interrogation training an Elite Octoling goes through by using an indirect method. You planted a powerful suggestion into that Elite's mind. A suggestion that will soon spread fear and anxiety in the subject's mind as she slowly awaits nightfall. If this was a test in the Elite program, you would have passed with flying colours."

"Yes well, I kinda experienced something similar before, so I figured it might work on someone else."

Meanwhile in a completely opposite mood was Inker and Kal, who were still trying not to think about that poor Elite Octoling.

One side felt proud, the other felt wrong.

"It's strange to see them so divided by a single event. Guess that comes to show the Octos aren't going to mix well with us." Marie noticed.

"That doesn't matter, it's harder than I expected but I'm sure we can stop the fighting between us. Slowly the Octarians around Captain Vale are taking a liking to us you know." Inker said.

"I wouldn't know, Cal and are too busy to know what's happening in Octo Valley. You know, with the final splatfest and all."

"Final splatfest? Wait when did?"

"Don't worry you haven't missed it, we announced it just days ago, you still have time."

* * *

After spending a few hours around Calamari county, Victoria and Captain Vale returned to the sugar cane fields to retrieve the Elite Octoling.

Drenched in cold sweat, the Elite kept repeating her name and rank as a means to distract herself. When she caught sight of Vale and Victoria she began to say anything that might get her out of her predicament.

At first the Elite only gave statistics, like the amount of soldiers at Nautilus base, or how many Elite Octolings are still active, when that didn't work she began to repeat Octavia's previous plans.

Those included using Lila as a sleeper agent, using the Octo Valley News Bulletin to discredit any uprising Octarians and constructing new weapons based on those taken from the Vanguard Inklings.

Captain Vale was somewhat mad when she found out that Octavia was now perfectly fine with equipping Octolings with Rollers, as Octavia didn't approve of it at all when she made the initial suggestion.

"Enough about the past! Tell us what Octavia is planning now!"

"H-how am I supposed to know that? Octavia hardly ever reveals anything and when she does, it's only to the highest ranking Elites."

This upstart Elite couldn't provide much, in the end they had no choice but to return to Octo Valley without any useful information.

Inker and Kal said goodbye to Callie and Marie while promising to return for the final splatfest with Neon and Sky soon.

As the group continued back towards the lair, Vale started to slow down.

"Keep going, I'm just making sure nobody is watching." Vale said.

Vale handed over the captured Elite to Kal and Victoria, while Vale disappeared in another direction.

The Inklings were hiding something from her earlier, she was going to find out just what it was.

Making her way back to Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, she first made sure the old squid wasn't around.

Then she searched for that sphere thing that Marie and Cuttlefish were hiding earlier.

It took a while but soon she found it hidden under a tarp.

With a quick tug, Vale exposed what was actually a giant snow globe.

One that contained DJ Octavio, former leader of Octo Valley.

The century old leader lay sleeping in a prison of glass.

Vale was surprised, why didn't they put him somewhere more secure?

Actually, now that it was on her mind, Vale realised Inkopolis itself had little in terms of security.

With this information, all she needed to do was free Octavio then they could invade….

'_Not again! What am I even doing here? I got needlessly suspicious of my allies again! What is wrong with me?'_

Realizing how badly this would affect her alliance with Agent 3, Vale slowly backed away from DJ Octavio's snow globe.

Then she stopped.

'_Octavia is only an Acting Leader, if I free Octavio he could restore my position in the Octarian army.'_

Vale stepped back towards Octavio's snow globe.

'_The only reason I agreed to work with Agent 3 in the first place was to get rid of Octavia, freeing DJ Octavio would be a shortcut to that.'_ Vale assured herself that she was staying on task.

She wanted to go back to the Octarian army, she wanted to spare her subordinates from looking over their shoulders everyday.

Octavio was the easy way to that goal.

If she freed him, she could get back to the fight that mattered, Octarians vs Inklings.

'_Why does fighting Inklings feel so right? I don't get it?'_

Vale wasn't sure what to do, she had never been stuck like this before, usually she wouldn't hesitate to make important choices.

'_Free Octavio or not?'_

If she had found him earlier, she would have done so without hesitation, but recently Vale had been doubting herself a lot more than usual.

She was constantly catching herself going against her own plans, so what if she didn't actually want to free Octavio?

Vale had many questions arising, but nobody could answer them since they were about herself.

As she pondered what to do, DJ Octavio moved.

The old leader tried to stretch his arms, only to remember he was trapped in a snow globe.

A few moments later Octavio opened his eyes.

Captain Vale found herself staring into the large green eyes of the Octarian army's one true leader.

DJ Octavio crossed his arms, though there was the slightest hint of a smile forming in the corner of his face.

"Well... if it isn't the hero of Ark Pelaris."

And Vale stood there wondering what she should do.

'_The easy way out? Or the other?'_


	35. Inconsummate

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

"Well… if it isn't the hero of Ark Pelaris, Captain Emily Vale."

Captain Vale had been called that many times in the past.

The young Octoling who worked her way up the ranks during the Salmonid war, where she went from being a recruit to being an Elite Octoling and captain of her own splatoon.

The one who led her battalion to victory at Ark Pelaris when her original commanding officer had died in combat.

The one called the hero of Ark Pelaris had seen her leader's face many times, but she had never seen it in such a pathetic state.

Octavio was cramped inside his snowglobe, where he could do nothing but sit with his arms crossed until the day Octavia came to rescue him.

"I never would have thought that I'd fade in and see you here. Did you finally get rid of Craig?"

"Cuttlefish is asleep, Inklings have always been heavy sleepers after all."

"Hm, I see… So why are you here alone?"

"I've had some trouble with Supreme General Octavia, or rather Acting Leader, as she calls herself now. The moment you were captured Octavia took command of the army and ruled with an iron fist, anyone who disagreed with her was cast out, such as yours truly." Vale explained, gesturing at herself.

"Hah, Octavia has always been ambitious, it's something you two have in common isn't it?"

As much as she disliked being compared to Octavia, Vale did agree that both of them were ambitious. In fact, Octavia usurping her superior was not something Vale hadn't already done in the past, though that was a story for another time.

"While that maybe true, Octavia has no plans to rescue you. Me on the other hand…"

"So this is your power play? You'll free me so I can give a royal beatdown to Octavia?"

"I didn't say that."

"Then why is your hand resting on the lock?"

"?!"

Vale didn't realise she was opening Octavio's snow globe, she quickly retracted her hand and stared at it.

Was this another part of that strange behavior she's noticed recently?

"What's with that? You are here because you want me to end Octavia's rule correct? You want everything to return to normal."

"I don't know…" Vale hated saying that, she hated being put in a position where she was stuck on her feet.

What did she want?

She fought against Octavia because the two had opposing thoughts.

She attempted to remove Octavia from power in order to save her subordinates.

These acts should have made her an ally of the Inklings, but she also planned to invade Inkopolis before, as well as free Octavio.

What was even her goal?

"Come on now, don't stress things too much, just do what your mind tells you."

"I don't know!" Vale quickly covered her mouth, as she realised she just shouted at her race's ruler.

"I don't know, everything is fuzzy. Sometimes I'm seeking help from Inklings to overthrow Octavia, other times I'm trying to stab those same Inklings in the back. Sometimes I hate the idea of working with Agent 3, other times I'm trying my best to keep working with him. I feel as if something is wrong with me."

When Vale looked back up, Octavio's face had changed, instead of his earlier smug look, it was replaced by one of suspicion.

She realised mentioning Inklings was probably a mistake.

"... You've been working with Inklings… Why?"

"It wasn't my first choice, Octavia ordered my execution, but one of my subordinates escaped and begged Agent 3 for help, so I was rescued by the New Squidbeak Splatoon."

"I see, so you decided to gain their trust while simultaneously using them to further your own goals. Clever."

"You give me too much credit, it didn't go that smoothly, most of these days I'm not even sure what I'm doing."

"Yet you've made it to me without having to fire a shot, that's quite an accomplishment."

"My apologies your excellency, but I had no idea you were even here."

"Then luck is playing my tune today."

Octavio kept acting as if Vale was here to rescue him, yet Octavio kept his look of suspicion.

Vale had noticed this.

"That look… Do you think I've betrayed you? I haven't, I'm just confused."

"I'm just wondering if your cooperation with Inklings has ruined your loyalty to the Octarian cause."

"Of course not, I still wish for our people to fix Octo Valley and maybe even return to the surface."

"Good, then hurry up and get me out of here. We'll put Octavia back in her place then destroy the Inklings you hate so much."

Octavio kept insisting that Vale was here to free him.

But Vale was still unsure, this could be her unconsciously acting against the Inklings again.

"Why do I hate Inklings?"

"That's not important."

"Is it? I've always felt angry thinking about Inklings, yet I can't seem to find a reason for it, as if there is a blank in my memory or something."

Octavio sighed.

"As I feared, your cooperation with Inklings has corrupted you."

"No! Not possible, everyone must have a reason for their actions, there must have been something that made me hate Inklings, I just need to figure it out."

Vale wasn't sure, but it almost looked like Octavio looked worried for a moment..

"And what will you do once you remember?"

"I'll come back for you."

"Craig won't allow it, neither will his pesky grandchildren."

"I'll find a way."

"Not you won't. Listen here, you can't underestimate the New Squidbeak Splatoon just because they seem less professional. If I am to be freed, it has to be now, forget about your alliance with Inklings, think back to training in Nautilus, think back to the spicy beats playing to the sound of marching, think back to your oath as an Octarian soldier! You know what you must do here."

"No I really don't."

Octavio now looked angry, but not at Vale.

"Yeah just as I thought, working with Inklings really has corrupted you."

Vale could see his body tense up and a vein pop on his forehead.

"This all happened because those annoying Squid Sisters had to interrupt my grand performance and blast their noise across the Valley! I knew that some would stray from our cause, but I never expected you. You Elite Octolings should have been unaffected and stayed true!"

"What are you saying sir?"

"I'm saying you shouldn't think too much and let me out! Elite Octolings are supposed to be loyal to me and me only, through them I would retain control of the Valley, that's how Octo Valley was composed."

"Composed? Forgive me for speaking like this, but Octo Valley exists for the sake of our race, it's not one of your tunes."

"You're right, it does exist for the Octarians, but what are the Octarians without me and my beats? A disorganized mess where power constantly shifts about, causing endless infighting."

"Really? Then what about Octopolis?"

"Let's not dwell on the past."

"Octopolis was fine until you came to power and declared war on Inkopolis."

"Why are you doing this Vale?"

"I only want what's best for our race."

"And to that end I have to lead, music is stronger than words, which is why no one can control the Valley like I am."

"Am? What are you… Music is stronger than words, you aren't just talking about songs and speeches are you?"

"Of course not, why do you think I was so confident that you came to rescue me. I knew it would happen sooner or later whether or not you wanted it."

Vale was starting to see why Octavio suddenly got so mad.

"We Elite Octolings were trained to manipulate and control, by none other than you, but none of us ever stopped and wondered if we were actually the ones being controlled right?"

"Of course." There was no hesitation in Octavio answer. "Ever since Craig betrayed me I've had but one goal: revenge. That goal will never change no matter how many generations pass, not as long as there are Elite Octolings to continue my work."

"What did you do to us?"

"Nothing you wouldn't want, I simply united the Octarians under one goal and one song. As for your dilemma I don't know if it's because working with Agent 3 has changed your impression of Inklings, or if it's because that lost Octoling started spreading Inkling music throughout the Valley. But it really doesn't matter if Octavia takes over, or if you usurp her position, because Octo Valley and it's people, will not rest, not as long as my goals remain…" Being the flashy DJ he was, Octavio paused for a moment for a dramatic build up.

"Inconsummate!" he finished.

Vale understood now why she was noticing blanks in her reasoning, why she was so opposed to the idea of Inklings and Octarians living together.

"To think that I, that so many Octarians looked up to you…"

"Would you have preferred a race that fights itself? It's only because of me that the Octarians can even exist as a species!"

"We'll see about that. Oh and thank you, I didn't know what I was doing, but now it's all clear. Just you wait, by the time we meet again, Octo Valley will no longer be yours."

"You say that, but in the end it doesn't matter, either Octo Valley remains under my rule, or this will be the last time we meet."

"So be it."

Vale walked away with a strange smile on her face.

That was the third time she disagreed with one of her superiors and said it to their face.

Strangely it was becoming somewhat of a habit.

Although she felt proud turning her back on Octavio, she started to think about what the future held for someone who couldn't even act on their own accord.

'_I need to find a way out of this mess, but first I need to make sure the splatoon is in good hands.'_

* * *

Meanwhile, Octavio wasn't worried.

That's why he revealed everything to Vale.

He believed that even if she and the other Elite Octolings knew, they wouldn't turn on him.

In fact he was so confident that nothing would change, that he didn't even care that Cuttlefish had been eavesdropping on them.

"So you're awake…"

"Who wouldn't be woken up with all that racket?"

Cuttlefish sighed. "I still can't believe you went that way, controlling your own people with music. From what you just said, they still aren't free yet, I guess some things never change."

"I'm flattered that you still pay so much attention to me, I guess things really don't change."

"No, some things do. What happened to the prince who wanted to compose music and tour the world?"

"Hmph, that prince never existed, I think you're going senile."

"If ya say so. Though I gotta say, I'm surprised that Captain had the guts to abandon you to your face."

"She hasn't, mark my words sooner or later she'll realise that she can't escape fate, there is no alternative."

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

When she returned, Vale was welcomed back by her soldiers.

Lynn had returned safely from her false attack and was glad to hear that things went well on both ends, but she and many others serving the captain noticed that their commanding officer looked different.

Captain Vale always stood tall, proud and confident. Even in face of recent events, Vale always seemed to be able to plan ahead.

But now she looked different, deflated and troubled.

Vale retired to her office, where she buried her face in her hands and let out a huge sigh.

Everything that had happened up to now, was never under her control, at least that's what it felt like to her.

What was she to do now?

Is making peace with Inkopolis really the best option here?

Will the Octarian people even accept such an alliance?

Nothing was clear to her anymore, she blamed Octavio for it, all of it.

Every thought she had against Inklings, Agent 3 and Inkopolis must be because of DJ Octavio.

In her hands she held the goggles she once proudly wore back when she was an Elite Octoling.

Now the only thing that was 'Elite' of her was her black coloured tentacles.

What was the point of being 'Elite'? All it meant was that Octavio had control over you and you would like it.

Suddenly, Vale heard her door opening.

She quickly straightened herself up, it would be bad for morale if any of her subordinates saw her distressed like this.

"Hey Captain."

It was Agent 3.

"Is Eliza causing you problems again?" Vale guessed.

"No no, she's been steering clear of me ever since that duel thing. Actually I came because I heard about what happened between you and Octavio."

"How?"

"Cap'n Cuttlefish heard the whole thing, apparently it's hard to sleep when two angry Octarians are shouting outside your home."

"Haha, of course it is…"

"Hey so this means you're officially on our side right?"

"I don't know, everything is so confusing now."

"Well even if you don't want to admit it, I'll be here to help."

Vale sighed again, "Don't bother, you should just go home."

"This isn't like you captain."

"You don't have to call me that, you aren't part of my splatoon anyways. I know I yelled at you the last time you called me by name but I don't care anymore."

"Seriously, what's bothering you?"

Vale chuckled emptily for a moment.

"When you find out that everything you've done was because of someone else working behind the scenes, you'll start to question everything."

"Oh uhh, I see."

"You're confused."

"Haha, yeah I am."

"I'm surprised you could make it this far with such little military knowledge."

"Well to be fair, fighting the Octoweapons and taking back Zapfish were totally different. Besides I was pretty clueless back then, I had no idea you guys couldn't respawn in Octo Valley."

"Respawn?"

"Huh? You didn't know? I thought you would have figured it out by now, after all you did see me get splatted once before."

Vale thought back to when she was still fighting for the Octarian army.

She had just created the Octo Roller and decided to test it out by showing up unannounced to help Octavia kill or capture Agent 3.

She remembered seeing Agent 3 being splatted back then, but somehow he showed up again later.

At first Vale thought that maybe Agent 3 did something to look like he got splatted but actually escaped.

"Respawn huh, so basically no matter how many times you get splatted, you'll just come back again?"

"Not really, umm you aren't going back to Octavio's side right?"

"Of course not."

"Alright I guess it's safe to tell you then. See in Inkopolis, we've invented respawn points, I have no idea how it works though. But basically if you get splatted within range of a spawn point, you'll respawn there, also some specialized equipment like this Hero Suit can let you respawn even if you are far from a spawn point, though there's a limit on how many times you can use it."

"I see... Well that explains why I saw Inklings fighting each other when I first went to Inkopolis. You probably shouldn't go around telling others about this yet, it will probably rub them the wrong way."

"Yeah I think I get it."

Octarians would die almost everyday in Octo Valley due to accidents.

If Agent 3 suddenly said, 'oh hey you know we don't have to worry about death in Inkopolis cause we can respawn' there would be a riot.

First there will be some who would try to escape Octo Valley to live in Inkopolis, at the same time there will be some who will seek to steal the technology for Octo Valley.

Also it would probably set Eliza off again, if she found out that her sister was splatted permanently while Agent 3 could just respawn.

"What if I spoke with Cuttlefish to maybe bring some spawn points down here? We could probably power it with power eggs instead of zapfish."

"No, the idea sounds great and all, but considering that we are outmatched by Octavia and the rest of the army, I think it's too risky. You probably don't see it, but being able to respawn will make fighting wars even harder. Soldiers won't have to worry about dying and become super aggressive, they'll even be able to retain all their combat experience from battle. While keeping everyone alive sounds pleasant, I really don't want to risk the Octarian army getting their hands on these 'respawn points' of yours while we are still fighting them."

"Oh yeah, good point."

Vale started to wonder how the Octarian army would develop if they were also able to respawn.

She also realized how impossible it was for the current army to invade Inkopolis.

It didn't matter if their army was well trained, not when every single citizen of Inkopolis could just respawn over and over again.

How many Octarian lives would be lost if Octavia actually invaded Inkopolis?

Vale opened her mouth to say that she would be against invading Inkopolis now, but to her surprise she was unable to do it.

She still felt like Inklings had to be punished.

But she also knew that this was just Octavio's mind control talking.

Honestly, this whole thing was one huge headache, but she was starting to figure out the limitations of whatever Octavio did to her.

She couldn't openly welcome an alliance with Inklings, nor could she be sympathetic to them while they were present.

But what if she tried speaking with another Octarian?

"There's something I need to do, I'll be back soon."

Unable to admit how she felt about invading Inkopolis, Vale took some radio equipment and left the lair once more.

* * *

**Octo Valley**

'_Damn these ambivalent thoughts coursing through my head! To think that we believed we were acting on our own will, but in reality it was all according to Octavio's._

_I won't look back on this. Though I still feel those pointless feelings of hatred towards the Inklings at least now I know where it's coming from. I must spread word of this to the rest of Octo Valley, though I am certain not everyone will believe me, I need to do what I can._

_I am a soldier of the Octarian race._

_I serve for the betterment of Octarian kind, not for someone's personal vendetta.'_

Vale was now determined to help Agent 3 reach his goal of a unified Inkopolis.

But before she could return to leading her splatoon there was one thing she had to do.

Captain Vale travelled alone to one of the fake bases she had set up earlier.

She had thought of returning things to normal by forcefully removing Octavia from power, but doing so would put an equally corrupt leader in charge.

So she was willing to give Octavia one last chance.

Returning to her hideout briefly to grab some radio equipment, Vale travelled alone to one of her fake bases.

Assuming Octavia was monitoring the airwaves, Vale used a frequency that she had used before in hopes that Nautilus base would pick it up.

And they did.

At Nautilus base, news quickly travelled to the top that Captain Vale was using the same frequency that they had used back when Vale and a few other Elite Octolings had travelled to Inkopolis to squidnap Inklings.

Octavia assuming that she could hear what Vale was up to, decided to personally hear what was transpiring.

Imagine her surprise when the first thing she heard was Captain Vale herself saying: "I know you can hear me on this frequency Octavia…."

"Vale… did you want to surrender?"

"Things have taken an unexpected turn Octavia, I've found out that DJ Octavio was not the great leader we were led to believe."

This didn't surprise Octavia one bit, after all she had already forgotten about the old DJ and decided to lead in her own way.

"So what, is this somehow supposed to make up for your act of treason?"

"Octavio is using you, Acting Leader. You didn't even know it. Through both his songs and the Elite Octoling training programs, Octavio has made it so that no matter what we do, we will still carry out his revenge on Inkopolis. Right now both you and I have the same goal of conquering Inkopolis, but for what reason?"

"For the Zapfish of course."

"Yes that's what we were told, but if we really wanted zapfish why do we need to attack Inkopolis specifically?"

That's when Octavia realised it.

Something had been steering her attention towards Inkopolis and she wasn't sure what.

Oh well, it didn't matter to her.

"So what? Are you asking me to turn away from Inkopolis or something?"

"I'm asking you to actually be a good Acting Leader. No, a good leader and do something meaningful not just for Octo Valley but for our entire species!"

"I will, but I'll be taking back the surface from those annoying Inklings first."

"Ughhh, you still don't get it! You're doing exactly what Octavio wants you to."

"So what? We have similar goals so we work towards them together."

"If you're going to invade Inkopolis at least do something different than pushing through that one manhole! No wait that's not my point, I'm saying there isn't a point in going after Inkopolis anymore, it's already obvious that the Inklings will leave us alone if we don't do anything to hurt them."

"I'm surprised, you the hero of Ark Pelaris, are starting to sound like you've switched sides… Ahh but you were already a traitor so it isn't too unbelievable."

"And you are sounding just like Octavio! What? do you enjoy being his puppet so much that you'll keep serving him no matter what?"

"I am no-one's puppet! Listen here Vale don't test my patience, surrender yourself already so I can end this octohunt and send the army to Inkopolis. For the record I don't care if I'm doing Octavio's bidding or not, all that matters is that the Octarians see that I'm in charge. Soon my name will be remembered for eternity, while you will be forgotten."

"You want to be remembered for such a reason?"

"I don't care about the reason, I just don't want Octarians to say 'Octavia? Who's that?' so really I don't care what happens."

"Then stop with your stupid plan of invading Inkopolis and scarificing more lives! If it will help, I'll gladly submit myself to your judgement once you turn around and do something meaningful with your rule."

"Tempting offer, but there is no saving Inkopolis, oh and no saving you and your co-conspirators either."

If they were standing face to face, Vale would have punched Octavia already.

"Fine then, I'm done with diplomacy, try tracking me down if you dare, I'm nowhere near my real hideout. If you leave me no choice but to start a war, then so be it."

Vale shut off the radio.

Why did she even think about negotiating with Octavia, it was pointless. Octavia was an idiot who thought she was a genius, the worst possible kind of idiot.

Someone like that would have to be forced into understanding through a show of strength.

Time to head back to base for real, before the flying saucers started searching the area.

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

"My followers, I bring news most dire."

Captain Vale stood before everyone remaining in her splatoon.

A few of the Octarians they were sheltering, along with Inker and friends were also watching.

"But before I explain, there is something else you should know first. Elite Octolings were the most trusted of DJ Octavio's soldiers, therefore we are entrusted with keeping some secrets from getting out, such as the reason for the great turf wars. As an Elite Octoling myself, I knew that Cap'n Cuttlefish accidentally ruined DJ Octavio's reputation with the Inklings more than a hundred years ago, the wars was really all started because of a misunderstanding. However all is not as it seems, I'm sure some of you have wondered why is it that after all these years, we still think that war is the only way back to the surface, well that brings us to what I've just discovered."

Under the eyes of hundreds of Octolings, along with Inker and his friends, the former Octarian captain, Emily Vale became the first Elite Octoling to openly critisize and turn on DJ Octavio.

"The DJ never forgave Cuttlefish, during all these years he's been keeping our race under his control through his music, as for the Elite Octolings like me, we've become so enthralled by Octavio that we would do anything to hurt Inklings even without noticing it ourselves. I've noticed that I've been doing similar things, by sending Agent 3 on missions with the one Octoling who wanted him dead on the chance that she would get rid of him for me, I was unknowingly sabotaging our own efforts to take Octo Valley back from Octavia."

Vale seemed genuinely apologetic to her followers and assumed from all the murmuring that they were beginning to question whether or not she was still fit to lead this splatoon.

Though Vale had already asked that same question and decided.

"I do not deem myself fit to lead us anymore, but at the moment I don't have a choice. I will attempt to undo the damage Octavio has done to our race, or at the very least I will try to the best of my ability, but by the time this is all over someone else must lead instead of me."

A few members of the crowd started yelling at the captain to not look down on herself so much and that the soldiers still trusted her but Vale ignored them.

"Right now the Octarians are a backwards race incapable of moving past old hatreds, we need to change that, we need to de-Octavioize Octo Valley, so that we may return to how we were before the great turf wars. No, we can't go back to how it was, but we can learn from the past. We will overthrow Octavia as planned, but instead of invading Inkopolis afterwards, we will b-begin p-peaceful reactions with them." Vale struggled with that last sentence.

It felt so wrong for her to say that.

Sweat was even dripping down her face as she struggled with what according to Octavio, was a forbidden concept.

This was noticed by a few Octarians standing closest to Vale, who began to wonder if Vale's health was deteriorating.

"Yes, there will be some who disagree, but for the past hundred years we've only tried the violent options and it never worked, so why not try something new? Once we are done, Octo Valley will become our new Octopolis, where we can live without a large army and without fearing that our homes will collapse on us. Our first move should be to spread the word, so I hope you are all rested, soon we will take over the Octo Valley News Bulletin studios."

There was one last thing Vale had in mind, but it was difficult for her to say.

If she didn't know that Octavio had basically reprogrammed their minds to hate Inklings she would have assumed it was her instinct talking.

The last thing she struggled to say was.

"Agent 3 and a few Inklings had volunteered to help us, so as of now I would like to personally w-welcome them i-into the splatoon. T-treat them as if they were your fellow soldiers."

And that was all.

Vale didn't expect that she would even struggle with speaking.

Whatever Octavio did to sway the Octarians must have ran deep into her mind.

Vale wasn't sure how, but she would need to fix herself soon, otherwise she'll go back to sabotaging her own plans.

As Vale stepped away looking incredibly stressed, the regular Octarians were wondering how they should treat the Inklings now.

At first some would constantly bother them since Vale didn't even like having them around, then later they just decided to ignore them, well except for Eliza, of course.

Now they were supposed to welcome them into the splatoon?

"Lynn, how are we supposed to talk to Inklings?" One Octoling wondered

Since Lynn was the first member of their splatoon to make a deal with Inklings, naturally all the Octarians turned to her for advice.

"Huh? Why are you all asking me!?"

"Who else is there to ask?"

So Lynn suddenly found herself in the center of attention, while Victoria wondered why they all went to Lynn instead of her.

"What kind of music do the Inklings listen to?"

"Why do Inklings get up so late?"

"How come the Inklings come in all sorts of ink colours?"

"Why does Agent 3 never take a shower?"

It seems that the Octarians did have quite a few questions about Inklings, though for some reason they all decided to ask Lynn instead of an actual Inkling.

Victoria correctly assumed that it was because the splatoon members were familiar with Lynn, but unfamiliar with Kal and his friends.

"Hold up, can Inklings even understand us?" an Octoball asked.

"Well they can understand me." Lynn replied.

"Yeah but I don't think Octoballs and Octotroopers can speak universal." another Octoling pointed out.

"They can't understand Octarian? That's a relief. I mean... Aww too bad, guess i'll leave the Inklings to you. Have fun with that suckers!"

Glad that he wouldn't have to speak with Inklings, the Octoball rolled away.

Only for Lynn to reach out and grab him.

"Now hold on, since you clearly want to mingle with Inklings, why don't you go and teach them how to speak Octarian?"

"Oh no thanks, I mean they wouldn't really want to anyways, haha."

"I wouldn't be so sure, after all the cyan Inkling called Sky came here for the sole purpose of learning Octarian. Actually the captain asked me to find a volunteer to teach Sky, since you were so eager to speak with Inkling a moment before, I think you'll be the perfect candidate."

"Please don't do this to me Lynn."

"Haha! Now you're stuck with Inkling tutoring duties, who's the sucker now!?" the other Octolings laughed.

Hearing the laughter, Inker saw the bunch of Octarians and realized that if they were bonding, he should join in to increase the possibility of more Octarians becoming Inkling friendly like Lynn and Victoria.

Neon, not one to miss out on whatever could be fun, joined in as well.

Kal noticed Victoria was standing alone, so he went over to see what was up with her.

When he asked why she was distancing herself from the rest of the splatoon she said

"Well I mean I guess we are all soldiers, but you know they aren't my actual splatoon."

"So what? Even Inker and Neon are trying to get along with them, besides weren't you chatting with the others just fine a while ago? Come on, why don't you introduce us to everyone?"

"Yeah you're right, let's go."

Kal and Victoria joined the group, only for Neon to immediately introduce them as a couple and cause a misunderstanding.

* * *

Captain Vale was quite influential, now that she appeared to have opened up to the Inklings, the rest of the splatoon had followed suit.

Well there was still one Octoling who wasn't too sure about all this.

That Octoling didn't join her fellow soldiers in welcoming their new allies. It was Eliza.

Later that day Lynn went looking for her.

Eliza once showed that she didn't care what happened to her sisters in arms, as long as she got back at Agent 3 for splatting her sister.

Now that Captain Vale had officially declared themselves as Octarian renegades and allied them with Agent 3, she could guess that Eliza won't exactly be hopping with joy.

Though recently Eliza had been steering clear of Agent 3, so maybe she was okay with it?

Lynn found Eliza taking inventory, as was her usual job.

"Hey."

Eliza looked at Lynn, then went back to work.

"Does the captain want to see me or something?" she asked.

"No, I'm just wondering how recent events are treating you."

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I mean I know how much you hate Inklings but.."

"I don't hate Inklings, it's just the one."

"Really? Umm well… You know the captain isn't one to hold you back."

"What? Are you saying I'm free to leave and appeal to Octavia? Well, to be fair I'm already considering that."

Lynn was trying to suggest that she could go and speak to Captain Vale and let her know how she felt, not abandon the splatoon.

Then again, Eliza did seem indifferent about sacrificing her own sisters in arms if it meant taking out Agent 3.

For a moment, Lynn wondered if she and Eliza would soon be fighting on opposite sides, but then she remembered something else.

"Well, if you want to leave, I won't stop you, but umm.. You don't want to right?"

Eliza said nothing.

Lynn was never good at reading people, that was a skill that only her friend Claire was good at.

But maybe all that time with Claire was rubbing off on her, because Lynn could see through Eliza easily.

"I mean sure you seem mad after losing that duel, but you still went and cleaned the toilets since you knew the captain was going to make you do it as punishment."

"I only did so because I knew she'd make me do it anyway."

"Yeah, but if you really didn't trust the captain anymore you would have waited for her to order you."

"..."

"So yeah, don't go abandoning us yet, cause you'll regret it."

"Are you threatening me?"

"W-what? N-noo of course not! I mean that you specifically will regret it soon." Lynn panicked

"Right, why did I think you would actually try to threaten me?"

Lynn was not the type to do that unless ordered to do so.

"I dunno, hey what happened during that duel anyways?"

"I lost, simple as that."

"You sure, cause everyone else knew you held back."

Lynn was referring to how Eliza challenged Agent 3 to a duel using an Inkbrush, but then when she had a chance to deal a winning blow she didn't and allowed Agent 3 to recover.

VIctoria and Neon had noticed it right away, and everyone else soon realised it as well.

"It was that obvious huh." Eliza replied.

Eliza didn't really talk to anyone after that duel, the other Octarians thought she needed some time alone and didn't speak to her.

So Eliza never told anyone why she held back.

"You know, I don't think you hate Agent 3 as much as you used to. I mean sure he ruined your revenge, but he's actually a good guy right?"

"A good guy? I don't think so." Eliza sneered.

Then she turned away and muttered. "Well, I still hate him for taking Eileen's life, but as a soldier he's something else. I threw that duel because just when I was about to win, I realised I couldn't bring myself to strike down someone who saved me twice. I respect what he's doing, but I still don't like him."

"There you go! That's the right way to look at things! those Inklings aren't as scary as they seem."

"Don't lump me together with you, I was never afraid of any Inkling, especially not Agent 3. No I thought he was just plain evil, you know the kind of Inkling to remorselessly kill anyone standing in his way, the type to deceive and betray, to starve civilians into obedience, to brutally suppress free speech." Eliza glanced at the doorway then added "to eavesdrop on conversations like he is right now."

"Heh heh, sorry about that."

Inker revealed himself.

Along with Victoria, then Kal, then Neon, then a dozen of other Octarians including Eliza's remaining family, who they had rescued from Bassoon.

"What in the world are you all doing?!" Eliza shouted.

"Well we were talking then somebody mentioned that you might be thinking of betraying us, so we all started looking for you." one Octoling said. "But it seems like Lynn beat us to you."

"Here I thought it was just Agent 3, you guys are letting him get to your head."

"Why do you assume it was my idea?!" Inker exclaimed.

"Who else could it be?"

"Not me, that's for sure, knowing how much to hate me I'd stay far away from you if I had the choice."

"Hmph, when this is over please do, until then I'll put up with the captain's decision and bear working with you."

Eliza looked at all the Octarians present, a symbol of how much attention she was drawing with her irrational grudge.

She knew she was being childish, trying to screw over Agent 3 at every turn, but that was just because she didn't want to acknowledge that he didn't do anything wrong.

In fact, she still didn't, well to some degree, so Eliza decided to make it clear.

"Let me get this straight Agent 3, I hate you and always will. I get that you have good intentions and you are an honorable soldier who will put your life on the line for Octarians who would be shooting at you under other circumstances. Still, you can go die in a ditch for all I care, but until that happens I hope you continue to help my fellow Octarians in making peace with Inkopolis."

She gave him an Octarian salute

"I'll look forward to serving with you."

That was the end of any remaining anti Inkling sentiment among Vale's troops.

* * *

Captain Vale herself still felt the effects of Octavio's control, but she told herself to resist it for as long as possible, at least until she can bring some meaningful change to the current Octarian race.

To that end, Vale stayed in her office to make plans.

First off, take her message to the air waves.

She would take over the Octo Valley News Bulletin (OVNB) studios and broadcast her intentions to all of Octo Valley.

To further spur the population against Octavia, she would show the footage of Elite Octolings break into Octarian homes at random to accuse them of treachery, the footage obtained from Violet.

There was also all the prisoners they had rescued from Bassoon prison which could also be used to show the problems with Octavia's leadership.

Once that was done, they had to find a way to remove Octavia from power.

Well first things first, the Elites had to go, otherwise another would just take over after Octavia was gone.

Vale recalled how Octavio said that all Elites were bound to his will.

That included herself…

Vale decided that she needed someone who could take over once she was gone.

It's a shame the Octoling she had originally planned to be her successor; Claire, had been executed already.

Maybe she could use her friend Lynn, or maybe Victoria? Or maybe even...

As she pondered, Inker came to see her again.

"Well you've done it, Eliza and the rest of your splatoon aren't going to bother me anymore."

"Really? That's good to hear."

"Yeah, oh and Cap'n Cuttlefish told me to tell you that you've got the support of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, although Agent 1 and 2 are still busy at the moment, we will do what we can to help."

"I guess that old squid still can do something right."

"It has more to do with the fact that you went to talked back to Octavio to his face. Cuttlefish heard everything and well I guess he's looking for whatever chance he has to weaken Octavio's regime even further."

"Looks like we have something in common."

"Another thing, Cuttlefish said you might enjoy this."

Inker took out his squid phone and played the Calamari Inkantation.

"A song?" Vale asked, confused.

"Not just any song though, it's the same one the squid sisters used to help me beat Octavio and the Octobot king."

"So that's the "noise" Octavio was ranting about."

"If you really want to show that you aren't working for Octavio anymore, you should play this instead of whatever Octavio calls his songs."

"Good idea. Oh, since we are now officially allies, I figured it would only be fair if I did some things in return for all your help."

"Nah I'm fine."

"You are, but what about the other Inklings who had suffered because of Octavia?"

Inker suddenly remembered the doomed Vanguard movement.

"You aren't suggesting that I try to get some Inklings to join us are you?"

"No of course not, I'm asking if there is anything I can do to help. For example the little purple girl that Octavia had brainwashed."

"Lila? What do you want her for?"

"She is still programmed to react and obey if certain trigger words are spoken right? You know I can undo that brainwashing."

"I'll think about it."

"There is also the looted items the Octarian army took from the slain Vanguard Inklings, if we come across them, should I return them to their friends and family in Inkopolis?"

"Yeah that'd be great."

"Great, but first we still need to make ourselves known to the rest of Octo Valley. I'll call you once I am ready to move on the OVNB studios."

Inker nodded and left.

Shortly after leaving, he returned to the room the Octarians had provided for him and his friends.

Once there and alone, Inker contacted Cap'n Cuttlefish.

"Well I did as you said…"

"Good on you bucko! Why are ya sounding so glum?"

"When I said I wanted to prevent Inkopolis and Octo Valley from fighting, I didn't expect to be starting a revolution in Octo Valley."

"Well that's reality, sometimes great change can only come through great sacrifice. Yep reality hits like a bus and I know from experience."

"You were hit by a bus?"

"Not that!"

"Okay, well this feels wrong. You said that Octarians who hear the Calamari Inkantation choose to strike out on their own, but you won't let me tell that to Vale?"

"If Vale knew about that, then whatever her splatoon does will be directly related to us. If Octo Valley is gonna change, it needs to be done by the free will of Octarians."'

"Then why am I still here helping?"

"Don't you wanna help? Well if yer gettin cold feet you can always come back."

"I won't, but from what you just said, doesn't that mean Vale needs to do this on her own?"

"Nahhh, anyone who loves the squidtastic groove of the Squid Sisters is a friend of mine! And with how Vale reacted to Octavio I think she'll love it! We'll be helpin her out cause that's what friends do. There totally ain't an ulterior motive, no siree."

"Alright Cap'n, well I'll catch ya later."

Inker sighed.

He wanted to make peace with Octo Valley, but was there really no way of doing it without Vale's revolution?

Cuttlefish had already told him about what Octavio and Vale said to each other and judging from how Octavio openly revealed that he was controlling the Elite Octolings, it seems like he was certain that Vale would fail.

Well Vale did seem to be acting on her own, but Inker did also notice how she struggled with her announcement earlier.

Maybe Octavio still has a hand in things? Maybe Vale was still under his control?

'_No, if she was she would have splatted me by now.' Inker concluded._

'_Though maybe Octavio said all that to mess with Vale? To ruin her judgement?'_

Inker wasn't so sure, but he knew he had to keep an eye on Vale.

'_Funny, first it was Vale who would keep an eye on me, worrying that I would be doing something behind her back, now I'm the one keeping an eye on her.'_

'_Sigh, sometimes it feels like I'll never get Octarians and Inklings to stop fighting… No technically I did that already, but now the Octarians are fighting each other.'_

'_Is peace that hard to come by?'_

'_Octavio said that Octo Valley won't rest as long as his will remains inconsummate.'_

'_Well neither will I.'_

* * *

**OCs from part 7: Inconsummate (chapters 30-35)**

**Inklings:**

Inker Cetamari: blue Inkling boy. The idealistic young member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, Inker was a capable Turf War team player, which caught the eye of Cap'n Cuttlefish. When the Octarians stole the Zapfish, Inker followed the strange veteran out of curiosity and became Agent 3, a fact he had to hide from his friends at first. Inker is a compassionate individual which led to him seeking peace between Octarians and Inklings once he discovered the poor living conditions in Octo Valley. Due to his role in the New Squidbeak Splatoon, Inker finds it hard to earn the trust of Octarians, though he won't stop trying. (Also known as Agent 3)

Likes: Turf Wars, helping others, hanging out with his friends.

Dislikes: Pointless conflict

Kalus Kogia: red Inkling boy. Inker's childhood friend. Kalus had an easy life growing up in Inkopolis and was a bit arrogant as first. But after discovering what lay in Octo Valley he ended up agreeing with his best friend Inker's idea of making peace between the two races despite not wanting to be very involved. Though he tries to stay out of troublesome affairs, he won't hesitate to jump in if someone he cares about is in danger. (Also known as Kal)

Likes: Inkopolis, Squid Sisters, Ink shakes

Dislikes: Trouble, problems, stale seaweed.

Neon: Bright green Inkling girl. Neon is an easy going yet energetic Inkling, her enthusiasm for Turf wars and fighting is only matched by her skill. Neon loves playing Turf Wars with Chargers especially her unscoped Custom E-liter 3k. However Neon is the kind to act on instinct, while this may not always be good for others, it somehow works out for Neon. Although she constantly jokes and fools around, Neon is much more impressive than she seems, her aim with her E-liter is near perfect, she holds S and S+ ranks in Inkopolis and she even seems to know much more than she lets on.

Likes: Chargers, fighting, teasing friends.

Dislikes: Mind games, lockdowns, mistakes.

Sky: Cyan Inkling boy. Sky is the youngest of his group and also the least experienced in Turf wars. Sky is very self aware and knows exactly what he can and cannot handle. He doesn't take risks and won't even speak unless he is absolutely sure about what he is saying, which results in him being rather quiet most of the time and having a poor sense of presence. His personality is the opposite of his loud and boastful friend Neon, who often gets on Sky's nerves leading to him labelling her as "troublesome girl".

Likes: Being alive, calculated moves.

Dislikes: risks, danger

**Octarians:**

Victoria Holter: Red Octoling. Formerly a soldier of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Victoria had high hopes for her career as a solder. That changed after discovering that all the stories she had heard about Inklings being bad and evil were just Octarian propaganda. Victoria, being an Octoling, is much more serious about fighting than Inklings are, while she usually calm and somewhat cunning, Victoria does get emotional when things don't go her way. She does not share Octavia's strong dislike of Inklings and would turn her back on the Acting Leader once she determined that Octavia would only lead Octarians to further ruin.

Likes: Victory, Calamari inkantation, Octo Valley, family.

Dislikes: Octavia, being talked down too, loss

Emily Vale: Black Octoling (formerly Elite Octoling). An Elite Octoling who had made a name for herself during an armed conflict between the Octarians and Salmonids sometime in the past. Vale, just like Victoria and other Octoling soldiers, take her place and rank very seriously. Unlike other Elite Octolings however, Vale is much more compassionate to her soldiers, doing her best to keep them alive and away from bad orders. Vale is also rumored to be the Octarian army's best hand to hand fighter. After a series of spats with Acting Leader Octavia, Vale turned on the Acting Leader, believing that she had Octo Valley's best interests in mind. (Also known as Octarian Captain, Captain Vale.)

Likes: sparring, planning ahead, her splatoon

Dislikes: Octavia, sacrificing soldiers

**Octavia:** Elite Octoling, Acting Leader of Octo Valley, Octavia claims to be simply acting as a backup leader for Octavio, yet seems to not care about her former leader at all. Octavia is clever enough to take control over Octo Valley in Octavio's absence, but she does not do a very good job of leading the Octarian army, though she does manage to accomplish a few things. Octavia holds her rank in high regard and finds it offensive when her rank is ignored. Octavia also chooses an oppressive way of leadership, choosing to make examples of those who step out of line.

Likes: power, obedience

Dislikes: insubordination

**Lynn**: Octoling, a soldier serving under Captain Vale. Lynn is as loyal as they come and will gladly follow orders. Thought she is more calm and upfront with her fellow soldiers, she becomes meek, shy and obedient around those of higher rank. Lynn explains that this is because she feels that those with higher ranks have more experience, she shows that she trusts those with higher ranks by obeying orders from them. Lynn does not seem to hold any sort of resentment towards the Inklings, she does not blame them for keeping the Zapfish and is okay with befriending Neon, she also gladly follows Inker's instructions.

Likes: Orders, the captain

Dislikes: tough choices

**Eliza Pierce:** Octoling, a soldier serving under Captain Vale. Eliza had a sister named Eileen, who was splatted by Inker on her 19th birthday. Because of that, Eliza has an immense hatred of Inker and would do anything she could to make his life miserable. While her grudge against Inker was unreasonable, everything else about her was, she even acknowledged the childishness of her own grudge and does actually hate Inklings aside from Inker. Eliza would also acknowledge Inker's skill and honor in battle, after seeing him rescue her fellow Octarians and even being saved by him twice. Eliza decided she would always hate Inker, but could also work with him to save Octo Valley from being forever under Octavio's control.

Likes: her brothers and sisters in arms, joking

Dislikes: Agent 3


	36. A Revolution Begins

**Part 8: All Out Assault (Chapter 36-40)**

_Discovering that the Octarians are not free, rather controlled by DJ Octavio, the disavowed captain Vale decides to attempt a revolution against Octavia and replace the Elite Octolings with a new government that is not controlled by Octavio. The only problem: Vale is an Elite Octoling herself, even though she has turned her back on DJ Octavio she is still somewhat under his control. Knowing that she would endanger her own movement, Vale begins searching for a way out. While Arcus, the New Squidbeak Splatoon, and others from Inkopolis are inclined to support Vale, but Inker is reluctant to start another conflict._

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

It had only been days after Captain Vale announced that her splatoon would no longer serve DJ Octavio. Yet already, Inker, Kal, Sky and Neon were already noticing changes in the way they were treated.

Octarians no longer kept their distance from them, they would even sit with them in the mess hall and hold conversations. They also wouldn't exclude them from anything they did to pass the time.

Inker found himself eating rations at a table with both his friends and various Octarians from Vale's splatoon.

Basically, Vale's unexpected meeting with Octavio had helped Inker accomplish what he set out to do, however…

"Today is the day, we are going to take the captain's message to the air waves." Eliza cheered.

She and many other Octolings were fired up for today, because today they would make themselves known to the rest of Octo Valley..

At first they had been questioning whether or not they should do this since none of them wanted to fight their own people. But after Vale showed them all the evidence of Elite Octolings' violent actions towards the everyday Octarian citizens, they were convinced that Octavia needed to go.

As for Vale's sudden shunning of DJ Octavio they weren't sure what happened, but apparently Vale figured out that he was controlling the Elite Octolings somehow.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kal asked Victoria who was sitting next to him. "You were against fighting your own kind just a few months ago."

Victoria sighed, Kal was right she didn't want to fight other Octarians if she didn't have to.

"You've asked me before, but my answer won't change. Acting Leader Octavia is still an idiot who needs someone to show her that she isn't all that."

Kal still thought that they should get involved if they didn't have to and was having mixed feelings about staying here.

Sure he didn't want to be left out, but he didn't want to risk getting splatted either.

Though he could somewhat understand why Victoria was determined to stay and fight.

Kalus had originally thought Inkopolis was perfect.

But to Victoria it wasn't.

Inkopolis was still an Inkling settlement,there would still be some time before Octarians can visit without having to pretend to be squids.

Kal could understand how uncomfortable Victoria must feel, having to go out covering her head everyday in Inkopolis, Octo Valley was still the best place for her.

Yes, after the last few months, Kal thought he could understand Victoria better than anyone else.

He knew that Victoria didn't want to fight with other Octarians, but Victoria wasn't the kind to let feelings get in the way of things.

Unlike the sea creatures he knew in Inkopolis, Victoria was different in how serious she could get.

Once she had her sights set on something she would pursue it relentlessly.

Though Kal felt that describing her in that way would make her sound like an unreasonable one, but she wasn't.

She wouldn't be so determined if she didn't see any reason to be.

Though sometimes Kal wished Victoria wasn't always so serious.

"By the way Kal, you are going to stay put for this one." Victoria said.

"No way."

"You are going to hold us back if you don't. I can depend on the splatoon and Inker in this situation, but not you."

'_What? Am I really undependable?' Kal wondered_

'_Well if it's Victoria saying that, maybe I am? I mean unlike Neon she wouldn't say something unless she meant it. But am I really just a burden?'_

"Maybe I'm not dependable now, but if I just keep sitting on my hands here I won't ever have a chance of being helpful in the future."

Victoria smiled "Alright suit yourself."

It wouldn't really make a difference whether or not Kal came along with them.

But Victoria felt like she was already dragging Kal into too many things recently.

Kal might appear eager to help, but he also doesn't like getting involved in these kinds of things.

That was made him so different from the Octarians she knew.

Victoria wasn't going to confirm what Neon had said, that she and Kal were in a relationship, they weren't like that.

Though she wouldn't deny being somewhat intrigued by Kal.

Though not in a loving sort of way, no. Rather she found it interesting that Kal, who originally wouldn't stop trying to push her away, would end up going to such lengths to help her out.

Kal, who normally did not understand much about war and other conflicts, who did not like getting into trouble, would still come through in the end to help out.

Frankly put, he was really different from anyone she knew in Octo Valley.

She had met young and naive recruits like Inker, happy go lucky kids like Neon, and quiet guys like Sky, but Kal was well, strange to say the least.

He didn't want to go to Octo Valley under normal circumstances, but if everyone else was here he wouldn't want to be left behind.

Perhaps it could be defined as a desire to compete with those around him?

Whatever it was, Kal wasn't someone who should be risking his life down here in Octo Valley.

But if he really wanted to, Victoria wouldn't stop him.

"Ahh Victoria, the captain has already picked who is coming and who's not." Lynn said as she arrived. "You are coming along, and so will I."

"What about me?" Eliza cut in.

Eliza hadn't been sitting with the group, but rather just happened to be passing by at the moment.

"You're staying here, unfortunately. Because the captain wants Agent 3 with her on this one."

Given his previous experiences with Eliza, Inker expected that she wouldn't be too happy to hear that she was traded out for him.

But Eliza did stay true to her word, she wouldn't like him, but she won't let her personal grudge get in the way of her captain's goals.

"Oh, well that's understandable." Eliza said, and left without complaining.

After Eliza was gone, Lynn and Victoria left to find everyone else who was going to be helping them take over an OVNB studio.

Inker watched as Victoria and Lynn quickly gathered up all the Octarians chosen and begun speaking about the upcoming mission.

"I've seen you on the firing range, you got a pretty good shot, I'm glad we're in this together."

"Just don't hold me back!"

"Hey, if anything you'll hold me back."

"You know, If everything goes to plan, we won't even need to fight."

"Screw the plan, half the time it goes wrong anyway."

"But if you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

"What is that? A movie quote?"

"Movie? The captain said that, are you falling asleep during briefings again?"

"Don't say that out loud!"

Inker watched the eager Octolings talk about various things after they figured out they would fight together.

It was strange seeing them unfazed by the idea that soon they would probably be fighting their own kind.

Or worse, that they might not even survive.

Inker remembered Victoria disliking the idea of turf wars, so why is it that she's perfectly fine with actual wars?

As he thought about this, Neon stood up and skipped over to the group, soon she was having a merry time with the other Octolings.

Neon was just as eager to go as the Octolings, but simply because she loved to fight.

Seeing how she didn't start loudly complaining, it would seem that the Captain was bringing her along too.

Inker wondered if he was the only one who wasn't so sure about this.

He had already spoken with Cuttlefish, who was all for Captain Vale starting a revolution.

Then there was Callie and Marie, who said they would probably join in once they've wrapped up the final splatfest and got new contracts.

He hadn't spoken with anyone else back in Inkopolis sine he didn't have the time to go back yet, so for now it seemed like everyone he knew was okay with this.

Kal and Sky probably didn't care, Neon was probably hopping with joy at the thought of it and Victoria was determined to make her home a better place.

But Inker felt like this was not the best way to resolve things.

He wanted to help Octo Valley reach a bright a prosperous future yes, but he didn't want to start a war between the Octarians.

And he would be helping a side that he just happened to be on.

This was way different from taking back the Zapfish.

There was so many questions on his mind, which side was right which side was wrong?

Who would replace Octavia after she's gone? Vale?

Wouldn't a civil war ruin Octo Valley even further?

This didn't feel right to him, but he couldn't think of any other way Vale would find support for her splatoon.

Now that he thought about it, was Vale really in the right here?

Sure Octavia might have given her unreasonable orders, but did that really make it right that she tried to stage a coup and take over the Octarian army.

It was like siding with the lesser of two evils.

Well actually Vale wasn't that bad, her ideas were just a tad too aggressive in Inker's eye.

'_Maybe I should tell her that.'_

"Hey hey, Sky!" Neon suddenly appeared, giving Sky a hearty smack on the back and nearly causing him to spit out his food.

"Don't do that while I'm eating! Troublesome gi-"

"Yeah yeah I get it. So you can kinda understand what those small Octarians are saying right? Good, cause I-"

"You didn't even give me a chance to answer! No not yet, I just started learning Octarian just yesterday."

"Whaaat? Aww, well hurry it up cause there's an Octotrooper saying something and everyone else is laughing, I feel like I'm missing out on some good jokes."

"Wow you've gotten really friendly with the Octarians so fast."

Neon nodded furiously "Friends are wonderful!"

"Yet right now you have no idea what they are saying. They could be making fun of you for all we know."

"Whaaaaat!? Is that what's happening?"

"I didn't say th-"

Neon stood up with a determined look on her face "Alright!" she exclaimed "I'm gonna go punt that runt."

"No stop!"

Neon ran back towards the group of Octarians, while Sky gave chase.

This scene was pretty much the usual interaction between those two polar opposites.

A moment later an Octotrooper flew across the room, followed by Sky scolding Neon while apologising to the little Octotrooper, while Neon ignored Sky completely and hurried back over to Inker and Kal.

"So Inker, when is the next splatfest starting?" Neon asked

"Uhhh, Sky's calling you to go back." Inker pointed out

"Meh, he'll get over it. So when is the final splatfest?"

Neon was quickly trying to change the subject in order to cover up the fact that she just kicked an Octotrooper across the room.

What a rowdy scene she just made.

Inker relented and told her when Callie an Marie's last splatfest was happening, as Sky arrived to drag Neon back towards the Octotrooper.

"Hey! That hurts! Stop pulling my hair!" Neon whined

"Then come with me and apologize already!" Sky shouted

"No, not yet, I want to know more about the upcoming splatfest!"

"Inker isn't going anywhere! Ask him later."

"Nooo!"

"Hey put me down! Why are you so much stronger than me?"

Sky had initially been dragging Neon by her hair, but Neon quickly overpowered Sky and sat back down in front of Inker.

Eventually Neon did apologize to the Octotrooper she had kicked, though the trooper didn't really mind.

* * *

Since she had already sent Lynn to go round up the troops, Vale had time for other things.

She may be trying her best to end Octavio's rule, but she also knew that she needed to find a way to get him out of her head.

Though it was difficult when she didn't even know how Octavio's mind controlling music even worked, or how it affected her.

All she knew was that it made her dislike Inklings and sometimes would influence her actions without her knowing.

If she couldn't save herself, then she would need someone else to succeed her and fast.

It couldn't be another Elite Octoling, no they were all enthralled by Octavio, it had to be someone who never reached that rank.

The problem is who?

'_Out of all the Octolings here, who would be the most capable leader?'_ she wondered

There were quite a few Octolings here who stood out to her.

'_Eliza Pierce knows loyality and understands the importance of individual lives, but she can be somewhat unreasonable which puts her in a bad spot._

_Lynn Radars is my new adjutant after Claire's death, while she shares some qualities with Claire she lacks the self confidence to lead and would be better suited as a second in command._

_Of course I could always appoint Victoria Holter, I don't see her ever turning on the Inklings. She's not afraid of taking risks and stepping up for what she believes in, but she's also smart enough to know when to speak and when not to. She takes after her mother I guess.'_

That reminded Vale, what happened to her splatoon from the days of the Salmonid war?

She had already found out about Maria Holter's death after she set her own house ablaze in order to protect Victoria.

What about the others? Maybe they could help her.

Vale hadn't kept in touch with her former comrades from the Salmonid war, though considering how often accidents happen in Octo Valley there may not be many of them left.

Aside from that, the ones who were not Octolings had much shorter life spans.

She began recalling the names of the various Octarians she had fought alongside back then.

'_Alyssa, Cody, Erina, Allison…'_

Well no use thinking about them now, first they should spread the word.

In order to reinforce the notion that Octavio has been lying about everything, she planned to have Agent 3 appear alongside her.

After all, the news studio had constantly shown fabricated and sometimes ridiculous stories about Agent 3.

They had basically turned him into a symbol of fear for the average Octarian, fear that would often evolve into a need for violence.

Making Agent 3 look like a ruthless killer was probably part of Octavio's plan to recruit more Octarians into the army.

Or maybe it was to hammer in the idea that Inklings were bad and everything the Octarians do to them is good.

If she was to strip Octavio of his control over Octo Valley, first she would need to expose as much lies as she could while avoiding truths that might possibly sway the Octarians to join up under Octavio again.

That would also mean limiting the help she received from Agent 3 and the New Squidbeak splatoon. This revolt of hers had to be seen as a movement of the Octarian people, not an Inkling backed one.

Speaking of Inklings, Inker arrived once again to see the captain.

"Ahh Agent 3, I supposed Lynn has already told you about our upcoming mission?"

Inker did recall Lynn mentioning that he was coming along, but Lynn didn't directly tell him.

"Uhh yeah." Inker replied

Even though he had only spoken two words, there was a noticeable bit of uncertainty in his voice.

"I see, you aren't so sure you want to do this. Are you worried that I might end up under Octavio's control again?"

"No, this just feels wrong to me."

"How come? You wanted to unite Octarians and Inklings didn't you? If we are successful in taking Octavia out of power you'll be able to do that."

"Yeah but starting a civil war? That's not how I imagined doing it."

"This isn't civil war, this is a revolution and it's the only way are are going to get rid of the other Elites."

"It doesn't matter what you call it, the result is the same, violence and fighting and not the fun and games kind either."

"You'd do well to remember that the Elite Octolings are the ones who command Octo Valley, while they might fill political roles they are all still soldiers first and not only that, but they are the ones who will never turn on Octavio."

"Yet you did?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I'm not sure, I'm doing my best to do what Octavio wouldn't want, but it feels wrong. I have to fight with myself in order to even stand here and speak with you."

"You should listen to that song I showed you. Actually how about instead of making the rest of Octo Valley fight each other just play the Calamari Inkantation on the news instead?"

"What good would that do?"

"The Cap'n told me that it has a countering effect to Octavio's music."

"So we play that then what? Not everyone is going to turn on Octavio just because they can. There will be some who sympathize with Octavio and others who are too afraid to make a stand. The only way I- we are putting a stop to Octavio is by force."

Inker sighed, this was exactly was he was trying to avoid.

"You are way too aggressive, lots of Octarian lives are going to be lost once this revolution of yours begins."

"And If I do nothing, more lives will be lost in an endless cycle of war with Inkopolis. My course is set."

'_How naive of Agent 3 to think that everything can be accomplished peacefully.' Vale thought_

It kinda reminded her of when she first enlisted.

'_In a few months or maybe even years he'll realize that everything that's done requires a sacrifice, just not always lives.'_

"If you haven't made up your mind yet then go back to Inkopolis. I don't have time to waste on second guessing."

"So what? You're kicking me out?"

"I'm saying I don't need you here if-" Vale realized what she was saying and stopped herself, calmly took a breath to clear her mind then tried again.

"No I mean what you do here is up to you, be grateful tha-" She stopped again.

It was hard for her to remain friendly with Inklings for a long period of time.

Maybe if she tried a less direct way of explaining what she wanted to say.

"I think of the army as a well oiled machine, like any machine it will only function well if all the parts work in unison. If a part isn't working, there is nothing wrong with swapping it out."

Vale was trying to explain that she didn't mind if Agent 3 left now.

Inker somewhat understood what she was saying.

"So I can leave and you'll find someone else to replace me?"

"Something like that."

"So nothing I say will change your mind?"

Vale nodded.

"Alright, I get it."

If he couldn't change her mind what else could he do?

Well he could always resort to force, but that would be counterproductive.

Inker didn't like where this was going, not one bit.

* * *

While Inker was sharing his last minute doubts with Captain Vale, Victoria and the others were preparing for battle.

"Lynn! Lynn! Tell us stories about big sis!"

"Sorry Daniel but I really have to go now. Play nice with the others okay?"

"You'll be back soon, right?"

"Yes of course, don't worry, I'll tell you more stories about your sister when I get back."

"Yay!"

Lynn said goodbye to the little Octolings she was looking after.

"Quite an energetic bunch aren't they? Don't worry, they'll be in good hands." Violet said.

Violet and several of the other healthy non combatant Octarians were doing their part around the lair, looking after the young, tending to the sick and helping out wherever they could.

"Thank you, yeah they are pretty feisty, it's kind of hard to keep them from running all over the place."

"I can handle it, don't worry about a thing, just make sure Victoria doesn't do anything rash okay?"

"Of course."

Lynn then went over to her sick father and said goodbye, leaving him and the siblings of Claire and Madison in the care of Violet and some other Octarians.

Victoria didn't really have anyone to see, though she did speak with Violet earlier.

Violet just warned her not to lose her temper again and pointed out some negative effects it would have on her body, which Victoria didn't really pay attention too.

So while she waited she searched out the one who probably had the best aim in this entire force, Neon.

Obviously Neon would join in on anything that might involve fighting.

Neon had been strangely popular with the other Octarians ever since she fought Captain Vale to a standstill.

Just a day ago under pressure from her subordinates, Vale actually sparred with Neon a second time with the same result.

There was no questioning Neon's fighting skill now.

As for why Victoria was seeking out Neon, it was simply because Kal decided he wanted to come along.

There would be no better way to ensure his safety than to have Neon look out for him.

Victoria found Neon pestering Sky, who was trying to study the Octarian language with the help of an Octoball and an Octoling.

"-and then she said, 'it's not live, just very fresh!' get it?" Neon was probably telling a joke she just heard from the other Octarians.

Though the Octarians teaching Sky giggled, Sky was unamused.

"Why are you even here?"

"Why not? I'm gonna get going soon so I may as well check out how ya doing."

"Well I'm doing great, now leave. Stop being such a troublesome girl."

"You're so cold! Oh hey Victoria, are we leaving already?"

"We're about too, I just wanted to ask for a favor. You see Kal decided to come with us so-"

Neon cut her off.

"Say no more! I'll make sure none of the Octarian celebs get a chance to seduce your boyfriend!"

"Not that! Kal isn't my boyfriend! and don't go splatting unarmed Octarians!"

"I was just going to keep them out of sight…."

"No, don't hurt anyone you don't have too, I just want you to make sure Kal doesn't get splatted."

"Oh just that?"

"Yes."

"So you don't want me to keep shooing away anyone who might have an interest in Kal?"

"No… Hey wait a second, recently some of the Octolings have been asking me if I was in a relationship with an Inkling. You wouldn't have anything to do with that would you?"

Neon looked away from Victoria.

"... Say Sky, how long do you think it takes to learn a new language?"

"Don't ignore me!" Victoria shouted.

"Can you two argue somewhere else?" Sky asked, suppressing the anger in his voice.

"Aww, but I do so enjoy your company." Neon replied.

"Sorry Sky, come on troublesome girl." Victoria apologized, mimic's Sky's way of referring to Neon.

"Wahhh! First Sky now you too! I have a name for a reason! Don't just label me with nicknames!"

"Then stop spreading rumors about me and Kal!"

Victoria took Neon and left before Sky got even more irritated.

Everyone was set and good to go.

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Octo Valley News Bulletin was very similar to Inkopolis News Time in Inkopolis, the similarities being the way news was presented and how it even featured two celebrities known to Octo Valley as the Octo Twins.

The difference was that Octo Valley News Bulletin was a state run studio, it would only broadcast what Octavio or what the Octarian army told them to.

Because of this, Vale had taken a squad of Octolings with her, which included Victoria, Lynn, Inker, Neon and Kal.

She expected that as soon as she broadcast her subversive message, Octavia and the Octarian army would come crashing down upon them.

And she was ready for it, Octavia wanted to starve them out of hiding? Then she would go all out.

Those working at the Octo Valley News Bulletin never thought they'd see the day when their own studio was attacked.

The unarmed occupants of the studio were quickly overpowered and captured by Vale and her Octolings.

As Vale's Octolings set to work preparing for a valleywide broadcast, one of the captured news anchors began to struggle.

"You! You're that traitor Vale! You got some nerve showing up in our studio!" One blue Octoling shouted.

She was one of the Octo Twins, who normally hosted the Octo Valley News Bulletin.

"Taki, calm down." Her twin, an orangish yellow Octoling named Koya whispered.

Taki ignored Koya and shouted at Vale.

"Don't think you can get away with this!"

Vale motioned to Lynn to go and secure Taki.

"I don't, in fact I think Octavia will be storming her way here as soon as she sees this next broadcast."

"You… You're planning on luring Octavia here with a broadcast? ABSURD!"

"Taki please stop, you're going to get us hurt." Koya whispered once again.

By now Taki had managed to stand back on her feet, thought she was still tied up.

Under orders from Vale, Lynn approached the Octo Valley celebrity and forced her back onto the ground with the rest of the news crew.

"You're in WAY over your head Vale! If you think that me, Taki of the Octo twins will go against the Acting Leader and say what you want then- then…." Taki stopped when she noticed someone else enter the broadcasting room.

He had blue tentacles tied up in a ponytail behind his head, he wore a bright yellow jacket with black sleeves and held a weapon that looked like it came from the future.

"Alright, Neon is watching everyone else on the bottom floor and Cuttlefish is watching the studio's CCTV cameras." Inker reported to Vale.

Taki knew exactly who he was, after all she and her twin Koya had done tons of stories on him by Octavio's request.

She immediately deflated in the presence of the lone Inkling who beat DJ Octavio.

Taki finished her earlier sentence with a much meeker tone.

"Uhhh….heh…. Then just put it on the transcript." she said, forcing a smile.

The rest of the news crew who were maybe thinking of putting up some resistance lost those thoughts when they laid eyes on Agent 3.

"We don't need you to say anything, just sit there and wait, we'll be gone before you know it." Lynn told Taki, Koya and the others

Seeing this reaction Inker asked Vale. "Hey, don't tell me you brought me along just to scare everyone."

"Of course not, I need you to make an appearance here. To show Octo Valley that you aren't what Octavio says you are."

"So i'm gonna be on the news in person? What am I suppose to say?"

"Just walk in an introduce yourself when Lynn tells you to, then say whatever you think about Octo Valley, after that you're free to do whatever you like. After all you still aren't too certain about this are you?"

Inker nodded "Isn't that obvious."

"One last thing, play that song you keep talking about, the Calamari Inkantation, not too loud, but loud enough for me to hear."

Inker gladly did so.

He thought that Vale had decided to try his idea of pacifying the Octarian army using the Calamari Inkantation.

In reality though Vale knew it wouldn't work, she had another reason.

Inker said that the Calamari Inkantation had a cancelling effect on Octavio's music.

Maybe it could have a similar effect on Octavio's control over her.

Vale sat in front of a camera, while Vale's Octolings took the roles of the news crew.

"Ready? We are live in 3….2….1...:"

Vale took a deep breath and stared into the camera lens.

"Good evening, some of you may have been expecting Taki and Koya, others may recognise me from previous broadcasts. For those that don't, I am Captain Emily Vale, former Elite Octoling of our beloved army."

Inker noted that this time, Vale wasn't sweating or jittering like she did back when she announced that she was turning on DJ Octavio.

He didn't know it was with the help of the Squid Sisters' song, rather he assumed it was Vale's steely determination.

"Our Acting Leader might have said things about me, that I'm a traitor, a terrorist and a disgrace to the Octarian cause. That's a lie, our current Octarian government is full of liars, both Octavio and Octavia claim that Inklings must be destroyed, and that Agent 3 is the enemy of all Octarians that too is a lie and I have the real Agent here to prove it."

Lynn gave Inker a slight push and Inker took a seat next to Vale.

Vale just wanted him to introduce himself and give his opinion on Octo Valley.

But the lack of a script and any news anchor experience made Inker a bit nervous.

"Uhhh hey, I'm Inker Cetamari of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. You may know me as Agent 3. I'll start off by saying yes, I did fight the Octarian army and I did defeat Octavio, but it was simply to get the Zapfish back. I don't know what they've been telling you about me, but I've got nothing against Octo Valley. In fact I wish for both of our race, Inkling and Octarian to put aside the events of the past and stop fighting. That is all."

Not the best speech, but Inker didn't know what else to say.

Fortunately Vale could work with that.

"Now you know what was false, now let me show you the truth." Vale continued

On cue, an Octoling played footage recovered from various sources.

There was the footage from the Elite Octoling goggles that Violet had kept on her.

"This footage was taken from the goggles of an Elite Octoling, now watch and listen closely."

The video showed a team of Elite Octolings breaking into homes at random, accusing the occupants with treason with no evidence at all.

"This is what the army has been doing under Octavia's leadership."

Next there was footage Vale's troops themselves had gathered, of innocent Octarians being forcefully taken from their homes and put in Bassoon prison.

"Is this what the so called 'Octarian cause' is? I didn't think so and for that I was branded a traitor. What do you think?"

Vale showed more footage of the Elite Octolings making random accusations.

This time the video paused on a family of three Octolings, a mother Octoling and her two children who cowered in fear behind their mother.

Then it showed all the prisoners Vale had found in Bassoon prison.

Relatives of the soldiers in her splatoon, they were all elderly or children.

"Is this what our army should be doing? They called me a terrorist yet they go and do things like this. Octavia claims she has the good of the Octarian people at heart, yet-"

By now Inker had left the broadcast room.

This still didn't feel right to him.

The speeches, the call for violence.

Though what else could he do?

He wandered the news studio for a bit to clear his mind.

He came across a room full of what appeared to be old props and records.

Kal and Victoria was there for some reason laughing at something.

When they noticed Inker, Kal showed him a picture.

It looked more like a painting, though the creature on the painting looked strange.

It had the head of an Inkling, but it's legs were made of metal and it had one glowing blue eye.

"What is this?" Inker asked.

"It's you!" Kal said, hardly containing his laughter.

"What?"

"Remember how I told you the Octo Valley News made up all sorts of silly stories about you? Well this is one of them." Victoria said.

"Ohhh."

Inker remembered Victoria telling him about all the ridiculous stories Octo Valley had made up about him.

As a joke he held the picture next to his face

"It looks like me?"

"Yeah, if you were some cyborg thing." Kal replied.

They rummaged through everything and found more Octarian propaganda on Agent 3.

"Oh this one, I remember seeing posters of this back in Nautilus base." Victoria said, holding up a posted that read 'Inkling Agent #3 Octarian enemy #1'

It featured Agent 3 smiling sadistically preparing to execute a wounded Octoling who was tearfully begging for her life all while under his foot.

"Wow that uhhh… that's probably how Eliza sees me."

"I think you'd be right." Victoria said

Inker, Kal and Victoria continued sifting through random things and laughing at whatever fabricated image of him the Octarians had created.

Inker felt somewhat refreshed, it felt just like the things he would do while hanging out with Kal, Sky and Neon back in Inkopolis.

For a moment he had forgotten what they had originally came to do, until Vale came looking for them.

"Drop it you three, we need to leave."

Inker snapped back to reality and once again worried about what was to come after Vale's broadcast.

He sighed as the group prepared to leave.

"So it's done?" Inker asked

For some reason Vale was starting to find Agent 3's naivety to be somewhat amusing, she chuckled a bit and replied

"No Agent 3, It's only begun."


	37. Distractions

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Octarian saucers patrolled the skies of the Undercity.

"The Acting Leader has declared martial law! All citizens are to obey the orders of military personnel and follow curfew times. Anyone resisting risks being shot."

Just like before, the saucers carried Octosnipers and flew around shouting messages down at the Octarians below.

Nobody expected the traitorous Captain Vale to try and raise unrest within the city.

In a short yet effective broadcast by the disavowed captain, she exposed the Elite Octolings' oppressive behavior and even condemned DJ Octavio.

This normally wouldn't cause such a reaction among the Octarian population, so the Octarian army, mostly noticeably Octavia, was shocked when mobs started forming in the streets and patrols found themselves being pelted with rocks.

Octavia's first order was to recall the entire army back to their respective bases.

She expected that Vale would make use of the confusion to attack, which is why her first order was to recall all her troops but to her surprise nothing happened.

Yet she felt uneasy, Vale was out there and she now had mobs on the streets which Vale and her Octarian rebels could easily blend in with.

She had to get rid of those mobs fast.

Thus the saucers were sent out and Elite Octolings forced the crowds to disperse and stay in their homes.

Those would did not obey were beaten and thrown in jail, but that only fueled the crowds which were getting more and more violent towards the Elite Octolings specifically.

So Octavia had to send more and more of her army out to maintain her control over Octo Valley.

Everytime she sent a squad out, she feared that Vale would suddenly attack and she would not have enough to defend herself.

Yet Vale was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

"I don't get it. She gets thousands of Octarians to stand up and riot, then she just decides to sit back and wait?" Victoria said.

"U-umm, I kind of understand where you're coming from, but please believe in the captain a bit." Lynn replied.

"Yeah I get it, Vale is a good captain, but she's missing out on the perfect opportunity to go after Octavia. Inker! you've been speaking with Vale a lot recently, what is she planning?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Inker replied. "Vale always looks like she's struggling to speak whenever I'm there, besides out of everyone here, Lynn should be the one most familiar with the captain."

"W-well actually even I wouldn't know what the captain is planning, but I'm sure she has a plan."

"I sure hope you're right, I don't like leaving all those Octarians to be brutalized by Octavia." Victoria said

"U-ummm I don't think the Octarian army will go that far. I mean they are still Octarians with free will, they shouldn't be so eager to fire on other Octarians."

"Didn't you guys splat a bunch of Octarians in Nautilus base back when Vale tried to stage a coup?"

"Please don't remind me of that!" It seems that the memory of splatting other Octarians for the first time still disturbed Lynn.

"Hey don't you realize you splatted even more Octarians since then."

"Stop pointing it out, I'm trying my best not to think about it." Lynn violently shook her head.

"You should probably stop it Victoria, not everyone can stay level headed when fighting their own kind. Speaking of which, how come you have no problem splatting Octarians now?" Inker asked

"Because I'm already considered a traitor to Octavia now, so It's not like I have a choice."

"Wow that was fast."

"What? Did you expect me to have a dilemma over fighting other Octarains or running away? ...Well actually I did... but that was quite some time ago."

"I still remember how you kept insisting you wouldn't fight your own people back when we were rescuing Kal."

"Did you forget? I was still part of the Octarian army back then. Speaking of Kal where is he?"

"He's probably with Vale at the moment, apparently Vale is doing something he doesn't agree with."

Victoria sighed "Kal's sticking his nose into things again? When will he realize he's out of place here."

"Hey that sounds a little harsh, Kal's already trying his best."

"Yeah I get that, but I still feel like it would be better if Kal stayed in Inkopolis."

"I don't think any of us would want to just sit in Inkopolis while so much is going on down here."

Just as Inker said that, along came someone who would sit in Inkopolis while so much was going on in Octo Valley.

"Super sea snails! Super sea snails! La la la!" Neon skipped on by heading for the lair exit.

"Neon? Where are you going?" Inker asked

"Home!"

"Home? You're going back to Inkopolis?" Inker was surprised

He thought for sure Neon would be the last to leave, considering all she ever seemed to think about was fighting.

Well actually now that he thought about it, didn't Neon just do whatever she wanted without a second thought? Could this just be one of her choices she made on a whim?

"Hey wait! At least explain why you're leaving!" Inker called out to Neon, after noticing that she was still heading for the exit.

"The Splatfest is coming and I can't get wifi down here! I wanna see the theme for the final splatfest and also all the wonderful fan art squids are making!" Neon complained

'_Seriously….'_ Inker stared at Neon with a look of disappointment and disbelief.

"What?" Neon tilted her head in confusion.

"Ehhh it's nothing, just make sure you aren't causing problems for Vale."

"Oh i've already spoken with Vale. Who do you think I am? I know better than to cause trouble by running off on my own."

'_Don't you still do that all the time?'_ Inker wanted to retort, but instead he just decided to confirm that Vale didn't have any problem with Neon leaving.

"Of course not, I'll be back quickly anyways, I'm just gonna get the exact date of the splatfest and take a shower, speaking of which you probably should too." Neon said, sniffing the air around Inker.

It was true that none of them could use an Octarian shower, but Inker decided it wasn't important.

"Oh right, Kal was arguing with Vale over something, I don't really care but you should."

Inker didn't know Kal was arguing with the captain.

"Hold on, why do you just dump everything onto me?"

"Why not? Aren't you Agent 3 who usually deals with things like this?"

Inker could understand why Sky gave her the nickname 'troublesome girl'.

Since Neon already said she didn't care there was no use questioning her further, so Inker saw her off and went to find Kal.

Inker couldn't think of a reason for Kal to be arguing with Vale, or why Vale would have a task for Kal only and not him.

Out of curiosity, Inker decided to see why his best friend was disagreeing with an Octarian captain.

* * *

Shortly before Neon arrived to ask Vale if it was safe to leave for Inkopolis, Vale had been rethinking her actions up to this point.

She wasn't sure what happened, but her mind felt clearer during that broadcast, though now she was once again having trouble going against Octavio's will and working with Inklings.

So she was trying to find a connection between the broadcast and any other time she was able to think clearly.

Though she wasn't too sure how to distinguish her own will from that of Octavio's at this point.

Then she recalled Melanin prison.

Squidnapping and boiling Inklings so joyfully because she hadn't realized the influence Octavio had over her.

She still couldn't find a loophole out of Octavio's control, so instead she decided she could do something to ensure that even if she does slip up sometimes and starts fighting the Inklings again, they'll trust her enough to overlook it.

That's when she remembered Lila Fields.

The surprisingly tough kid who withstood the boiling pit, and didn't commit suicide to escape the pain like the other Inklings that had been thrown down there before her.

She had originally planned to sculpt Lila into the perfect Octarian sleeper agent, but Octavia got in the way and just put some trigger words in her and let her go back to Inkopolis.

'_What a waste.'_ Vale had thought when she heard of what happened.

She isn't sure where Lila was now, but judging by Kalus' reaction when she mentioned that brainwashing Lila was her idea, Vale assumed he was close enough to know where she went.

To make herself seem more trustworthy to the Inklings, Vale decided to ask Kal to bring Lila here and allow her to undo what Octavia had done to her.

But to her surprise, Kal refused.

"I haven't forgotten that it was you who threw Lila into the boiling pit back in Melanin." Kal said with a firm look in his eyes, indicating that he wouldn't change his mind.

"I thought we were putting our old hatreds aside." Vale replied

"Oh...err.. Well that still doesn't justify bringing Lila here. I mean seriously, Lila's already been physically and mentally wounded during her last trips to Octo Valley. Just let her be."

"Well that's true, but what if someone happens to figure out Lila's trigger words? Or worse, what if Octavia manages to reach her again?"

"Ahh…"

Kal didn't think of that.

"...Even so, it's very unlikely that someone would figure out how to control Lila and use her for their own gain…. And Octavia is gonna be busy with us so… yeah." Kal wasn't going to be like the dim witted Vanguard movement and bring Lila to Octo Valley.

"Why are you against this?"

"Why are you suddenly asking me to bring Lila here? Seems real suspicious to me."

"Because, I don't want Octavia gaining a foothold in Inkopolis." Vale lied.

At that point Inker showed up.

Curious as to what Vale needed Kal for, Inker demanded to know what she was planning.

So Vale obliged.

"I get it, but why now?" Inker asked, he understood that there was always the chance of Octavia using Lila as a spy again, but the chance was extremely small.

"That's exactly what I was saying." Kal added "I'm no expert like Victoria, but wouldn't it be better to hit the Octarian army while they are busy with the rest of the Undercity?"

Vale had trouble thinking of excuses.

Actually why was she trying to come up with excuses?

Why was she wasting precious time on some random Inkling girl when Octavia was her main concern?

"I mean, if you have something else planned for Lila, I'd like to know first." Kal continued.

Vale shook her head "Forget I said that."

Vale started wondering if this was also part of Octavio's influence.

She was about to waste time on frivolous things instead of doing something that mattered.

Her sudden change of mind confused Inker and Kal, but they just went along with it.

"Well… I don't think we should completely forget about Lila, it would be great if you can undo her brainwashing."

"Yes i'll do that, but later not now. If you really don't want to bring her to Octo Valley then I'll go to Inkopolis. But for now I should be focusing on other things."

"Uhh.."

Kal didn't get why Vale was suddenly shooing them out of her office, nor why she suddenly brought up Lila again.

As he and Inker left, they overheard Vale calling for Lynn and starting to shift through some papers.

What was going on?

"You called captain?" Lynn asked, after hurrying to Vale's office.

"Is this all the information on the 202nd combat group we recovered?"

"Yes of course."

The papers Vale had were taken from the Octo Valley News Bulletin studio.

While she was broadcasting her message, some of the other Octolings who had accompanied her were tasked with searching for any information on Vale's old comrades from the recent Salmonid war.

It had been over fifteen years, which was considered a long period of time in Octo Valley, since the average life expectancy down here was 25 years.

Even if Vale didn't remain in contact with alot of them, she hoped that maybe one of her fellow veterans could replace her as leader of this anti Octavio revolution.

After all, she had just caught herself ruining her own plans for… well she lost count of how many times it happened.

If she could locate any of them, now would be the best time to sneak them out of the Undercity.

"Let's see…."

She flipped through old papers, searching for any Salmonid war veterans interviews or anything relating to the group she was a part of.

Then she found one familiar name.

'Octavius Spasky, Elite Octoling and Second lieutenant of the Octarian army, killed in train derailling.'

Not a good start.

The average life expectancy in Octo Valley was 25 years due to the lack of proper maintenance. Considering every Octoling from her previous splatoon would be in their late twenties or early thirties by now, they would have to be pretty lucky to still be alive.

Then there were others who weren't even capable of living this long.

'Cody MacNamara, Octostriker and veteran of the Salmonid war, passes away at the age of….'

Vale didn't bother reading the rest, it was probably just an article about how Octostrikers were going seemingly going extinct.

She kept on searching.

* * *

For the next few days, Captain Vale did almost nothing on her end.

In fact, Neon had time to return to Inkopolis, rest up, indulge herself in pre-splatfest discussions and fan art online, then return to Octo Valley without trouble.

This was because the Octarian army was now too focused on calming down the Undercity after Vale broadcast.

They were unable to do anything about Vale until they had the Undercity back under control.

Vale still had nothing planned, however Victoria did.

"We can't just sit here and do nothing!" she shouted.

Victoria was eating her rations along with Eliza, Lynn and some other Octarians.

By the way their daily rations were getting smaller in size, at this rate they would run out of food soon.

Yet Vale was idling away in her office.

Victoria wasn't going to just keep sitting by.

She wanted Octavia dealt with so that she could go back to her normal life in Octo Valley.

No, it was too late for that, there was no going back to the past, but there was the possibility of a better future for Octo Valley without that so called Acting Leader in charge.

"With all the protesting and rioting in the streets, it will be easy for us to slip in and out unnoticed, at the very least we should do some sort of reconnaissance during this time." Victoria suggested

Eliza, Lynn and the other Octarians exchanged glances.

"Well, I don't exactly disagree." Eliza said

Lynn wasn't so sure "H-hold on, we can't just go off on our own without the captain's approval."

"Vale said that Octavio had the Elites completely under his control right? Then that means she might still be under Octavio's control and cannot bring herself to go all out with this revolution she's started." Victoria replied

Lynn tensed up "W-what? H-hey if you are planning a mutiny I won't allow it."

"That's not it! I'm just saying we can't expect her to plan out everything for us."

"Oh, well that's a relief."

"I don't think the captain will mind as long as we make it back alive." Eliza added

"Yes, I doubt Vale would mind and if she does, then I'll take full responsibility."

"Well then that settles it, I'm in." Eliza agreed.

"U-umm, I would go too, but well….. The captain probably needs me here so…" Lynn squeaked

Victoria understood that Lynn's position beside Captain Vale was pretty important, so she would have to stay here.

"Yeah I get it, the adjutant shouldn't run off. What about the rest of you?"

The rest agreed with Victoria's assessment, that Vale might not be in the best state of mind right now.

"And what about your Inkling buddies? Are they joining us?" Eliza asked

Victoria shook her head "It would be hard for them to bend in… Hey wait a second, I thought you hated the Inklings."

"No, it's just the one. But that isn't important right now."

Finding herself leading a small squad, Victoria left with Eliza and a few others.

It was rather early in the morning, so Inker and the other Inkling hadn't woken up yet.

When they did, they were distracted by Neon showing them all sorts of final splatfest fan art.

"Oh oh oh! And look at this one, It's perfect, I want this on a shirt!" Neon exclaimed

"Hey I can't see if you hold your phone so close to my face! And stop bouncing!" Sky complained.

Neon had been to Inkopolis and caught up with the times, so she had alot to say.

"Can you believe that it's all coming to an end? This is THE splatfest, you guys aren't going to miss it are you? If you do, you probably won't ever get any more super sea snails. By the way I'm going back to Inkopolis when it starts no matter how much you beg me to stay and I won't share my winnings!"

"You know, we can manage just fine without you." Kal said

Inker nodded in agreement. "I mean I handled Octavio pretty well on my own."

"Yeah well, the past is the past, I bet if Cuttlefish had made me Agent 3, I could have beaten Octavio in half the time!"

"Maybe so, but could you also have discovered the various other things lying around Octo Valley's lairs? Like Eileen's note, the Sunken Scrolls…."

"Who cares about a bunch of boring old papers anyways? If I wanted to find out about history I'd go online."

"If you say so."

"What you don't agree? it's much easier with me here right? Right? You might have been able to beat me before in Turf Wars, but my skills have doubled tenfold since!

"That doesn't make any-"

"Hey Sky don't you agree?"

"Why are you asking me?" Sky replied,after suddenly being put in the center of attention.

"No reason, actually it's cause you should stop being so quiet half the time. Yeah that's it! I bet almost everyone in this lair doesn't even know you exist, come on say something, what are you thinking? Say it!" Neon urged Sky to talk

"Stop nudging me, and why do I need to make myself known? I'm just here to learn the Octarian language after all."

"Yeah yeah, you've said that enough times already. Hey just so you know, when I leave again, I'm not coming back until the Splatfest ends kay?"

"Okay." was all that Sky said.

"That's it? Nothing more? Nothing along the lines of 'but what if I get splatted in a dangerous place like this'?"

"Nope."

"You're cold!"

"If I am it's because you are annoying! Why do you always bother me? You know you used to be much better back when you, Inker and Kal were introducing me to Turf." Sky complained even more.

"It's just much more fun being less serious."

"Troublesome girl…"

Neon and Sky were trading quips, the two of them had basically forgotten about Inker and Kal.

"You know, I kinda want to go back for the final Splatfest." Kal admitted to Inker

"You're not alone, well I did promise Callie and Marie that we'd be there for their grand finale."

"Grand finale… so this splatfest really is the last one?"

"Seems so."

"Man I'm gonna miss Splatfests."

"Come on now, save that talk for when it's actually over."

"Do you think Victoria would mind if I just up and left for Inkopolis?"

"I don't know, why not just ask her then?"

"As if it's that easy."

"Oh oh! I know! Why don't you just go and confess to her and take her with you!" Neon suddenly stopped bickering with Sky the moment she heard Kal mention Victoria.

"Can you not jump in the moment I mention Victoria? In the first place, why is it that you suddenly have an eye for romance ever since I met Victoria? Ahh I'm not saying there between me and her, just you know… uhhh… theoretically speaking." Kal stammered

"Oh, it was a joke at first, but I'm serious now because I happen to have a crush, yet I have no experience with relationships." Neon shyly scratched her head and laughed.

"Well neither do I…"

"Exactly! So hurry up and confess to Victoria so you can tell me about it, then I'll know how to confess to the guy I have in mind!"

"How much sense does that make? Wait so you were serious when you said you had a crush on someone back then? No nevermind that, don't start using me as a guideline for your life."

"Of course not, I'd be bored out of my mind if I tried to live the way you do."

"Hey, you know if you really like someone, just go and try to talk with them. I did say we can manage here without you, so you can go back to Inkopolis whenever you like." Inker said.

"Yeah, you might be annoying, but as long as you keep your mouth shut it will be fine." Sky added.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"I'm just saying what I think…. Hey stop that! Ow! Why do you always resort to violence!"

Ignoring Neon who pounced on Sky, Kal had been glancing around for a while.

"Where did Victoria go anyways?"

"Maybe Vale sent her off on a mission, don't forget Victoria is an Octarian soldier."

"Yeah, but still she should have at least let us know."

"Let's go ask Vale or Lynn, they are probably still around."

* * *

**Octo Valley, Undercity**

Despite a curfew and regular patrols, there were still Octarians protesting against Octavia in the streets.

They were denouncing Octavia and the actions of the Elite Octolings as well as their aggressive actions in rooting out possible traitors.

Large groups of shielded Octotroopers formed walls to protect themselves and to stop the mob from advancing as much as they could.

All the while flying saucers piloted by Octostrikers, carried Octosnipers around and hovered near the mobs.

They were supposed to watch out for anyone suspicious who could be linked to the traitor Vale, but even they were having doubts.

"Hey Kevin, doesn't this feel wrong to you?" An Octosniper asked his Octostriker buddy.

"Careful Tony, you don't want the Elites to hear you say that."

"We are at least fifty meters high, speaking to each other directly, I doubt any Elites will overhear."

"True but still, I don't want Octavia to punish us…. But yeah I don't like this either, we were supposed to be fighting Inklings. Why are we doing this…."

"I can understand watching for traitors, but the order to 'splat anyone who looks suspicious' is way over the top."

"Well Octa- the Acting Leader said that anyone who goes against the Octarian army, is a terrorist under Vale's employ…"

"Oh come on, you don't believe that do you?"

"Of course not! Shooting our own people without even collecting evidence first? This is exactly why they are down there demanding that the Acting Leader steps down."

"Can we just make a promise? Let's just not fire a single shot."

"Sure."

Conversations like this were happening among the regular Octarian troops.

This was completely different from the attitude they displayed when told to attack Inklings.

Though the Elite Octolings were a different story, it was common sense that the regular Octarians would never want to splat their own kind.

Victoria knew this, because she had felt the same way before.

But eventually, she managed to steel herself and fight her own people under a similar idea to Captain Vale and her splatoon's, that the ends may justify the means.

That being said, it wouldn't be too long before the Octarian army slowly starts getting the same idea.

When that time comes, there might be a tragedy.

For now though, it was safe for Victoria and Eliza to move around the Undercity unseen.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Eliza asked.

She wore a trench coat over her usual Octoling armor, giving the impression of a normal everyday Octoling.

"Anything really, just observe everything quietly, who know what knowledge might come in handy." Victoria was wearing the satin jacket that originally belonged to Kal.

It wasn't exactly inconspicuous, but it was better than wearing Octoling armor.

The two Octolings easily mixed in with the crowds and attracted no attention from the hovering saucers.

Observing the chaos it seemed like the Undercity was split in two between the Octarian army and the citizens.

However upon closer inspection Victoria noticed that was not the case.

"Look at that, those guys are waving a different message around." Victoria told Eliza.

"Not just that, but it seems like alot of citizens are staying indoors as they were told." Eliza added, noting the occupied buildings where silhouettes of Octarians could be seen.

From what she could see, Victoria concluded that Vale's message had split Octo Valley into three parts, not just two.

There were the ones who were outraged to discover that DJ Octavio had been suppressing their free thoughts using music and wanted both Acting Leader Octavia to step down along with DJ Octavio.

Then there were those who held signs saying things like 'Not my Acting Leader' or 'bring back Octavio'. These Octarians seemed okay with Octavio's way of ruling, but did not approve of Octavia's aggressive actions towards their own people.

Finally, it could be assumed that those staying indoors and obeying the Octarian army, were either too sick, too scared or were indifferent towards who was leading them. Although many Octarians were out to protest against Octavia, the majority were still indoors.

"What about food? We should do something about our dwindling supplies. Where did you get the rations we currently have?" Victoria asked

"From Melanin prison of course, though we cleaned that place out." Eliza replied.

"Hmm, say perhaps we could raid a store or something while the army is focused on the citizens?"

"It would be difficult to do so, it would probably be easier to steal from hovercrafts delivering supplies to Nautilus base."

The two Octolings continued moving, to not draw suspicion.

Eventually they walked by an open window, which caught their attention.

They could hear sounds coming from a T.V inside.

The two stopped and pretended to have a conversation, while in reality they were paying most attention to what they heard from the Octo Valley News Bulletin.

"..- has been falsified! This is clearly an organised attack by Vale in order to discredit me. She'll go to any length in order to soil my reputation. Don't trust those out in the streets, they are clearly instigators sent by Vale to give the impression that Octo Valley is turning against me!."

"That was the Acting Leader's final comment on the matter, we remind citizens not to interfere with the army in anyway, they are there for your own safety and for the betterment of Octarian kind."

"Yes, we must trust the brave octopi who choose to risk their lives for our safety."

"From OVNB i'm Koya."

"And I'm Taki."

Following that Victoria and Eliza moved on, discussing what they heard as they walked.

"We've really managed to put Octavia in a corner. I never expected one broadcast to have so much power. A few words have done more for us than a dozen battles." Victoria said.

She had never even considered trying to speak to the Octarian public like Vale did, now she was seeing the results and was in awe.

Captain Vale didn't just think about battles and war, she really thought outside the box.

"The captain is always seeking new ways to defeat her enemies. She had quite a few plans for Inkopolis too you know. If not for Octavia meddling, the war with Inkopolis would have started and ended long ago."

"Ha, I don't think even Vale could pull something like that off."

"What? You don't think we can take on a bunch of Inklings with no combat training?"

"Inkopolis is completely different from Octo Valley, someday you might go there and find out yourself." Victoria didn't want to mention the respawners out of concern for Eliza's feelings "Octavia once sent a small group of Octolings to Inkopolis in order to arrest me. They were constantly looking over their shoulder and panicking despite all the training they went through. The strain from being in hostile territory so far from home was probably too much from them."

"That I can understand, still under Vale's leadership, the Octarian army would be doing much better."

"If you say so."

Victoria didn't arrive to the Undercity with just Eliza, there were ten other Octarians from Vale's splatoon here.

Victoria's idea was that everyone would split into groups of two and wander the Undercity to gather information.

She had designated three areas as 'rally points' after two hours, they would all meet at the first point and exchange information, then disperse again.

They would repeat this twice before heading back, hopefully with some useful information for Captain Vale, who they assumed, would be unable to take meaningful action due to Octavio's control over her.

And if they were right, they would keep going on their own.

Approaching a mob of Octarians calling for Octavia to step down as Acting Leader, Victoria and Eliza observed a 'wall' of shielded Octotroopers holding back the mob.

Well that was the original use for shielded Octotroopers, until Octavio brought them into the army…

Victoria and Eliza bended in easily, and were more than capable of observing the Octotrooper formation up close.

They couldn't hear anything clearly because there were so many voices around them but they could see an Elite Octoling commanding the Octotroopers.

Victoria and Eliza had just heard about this from one of their fellow Octolings, that the Elites seemed to be commanding the groups sent to suppress any uprisings.

Looking at the Shielded Octotroopers, it seemed like not all of them were willing to carry out their orders, Victoria guessed that some were only complying because the Elites were standing there.

Having seen enough, Victoria and Elize slipped away.

"The captain said that as long as there are Elite Octolings, Octavio will remain in control of the Valley. Perhaps we can do her a favor and splat the Elite Octolings while pretending to be protesters?" Eliza suggested.

"That could work, but well.." Victoria wasn't ready to agree.

"You're worried that Octavia might order the army to just purge everyone?" After seeing the aggressive actions of the Elite Octolings on tape, Eliza felt that 'purge' was the right word to use here.

"Well we've seen that Octavia prefers to force her way to her goals, I wouldn't put it past her to do something like that. Maybe we can sneak Neon in here and pick off the Elites with her Charger."

"Sneaking an Inkling here? I can't see that working out."

"Right, assassinating the Elite Octolings in plain sight might end up provoking the army to attack the citizens."

"That's not what I was getting at, but sure."

The two Octolings observed the protests that they had help instigate.

A few hours later they headed back to Vale's hideout with virtually no trouble.

* * *

**Guerilla Hideout, Octo Valley**

Back in her lair, Vale was still pondering what to do.

The only thoughts that ran through her head was things like 'reconnect with old acquaintances' or 'fix Lila to gain the favor of Inklings'.

Unfortunately these were but distractions, trivial tasks with little importance yet Vale couldn't get her mind off them.

For some reason, she felt so empowered while she was standing in front of the camera, exposing Octavia to the rest of Octo Valley, yet now that it was done she couldn't focus anymore.

By now, more and more of her splatoon was realizing this, as did Inker and the others.

"Hey Inker, why don't you just tell Vale to listen to Calamari Inkantation? Wasn't that supposed to help fight Octavio's brainwashing?" Kal asked.

"I don't think it's that simple, besides what am I supposed to say? I doubt Vale would be happy to listen to a mind affecting song from Inkopolis." Inker replied

He didn't think that Vale would be too happy if he told her about Calamari Inkantation's effects, it was possible that Vale might just see it as Inkopolis' version of a mind numbing song.

"Don't you find it weird that Vale would only start feeling the effects of mind control now?" Sky asked

"What do you mean?"

"From what I understand, Vale was an Elite Octoling for years, plus she rebelled against the current Octarian leader right? I heard that she almost succeeded if not for an unfortunate distraction."

"Ahh right, I never gave it much thought…." Inker admitted

They had all known about Vale's attempted coup, but if she was really unconsciously submitting to Octavio, why was she able to do that?

"What if we think of Octavio's music as some sort of mental barrier that prevents Octarians from trying to overthrow him." Inker wondered. "If that's the case, then if Vale's coup was to get rid of Octavia, but not take over Octavio's position as Octarian leader, it would be possible."

"Uhhh… even though I had a few lucky guesses with Lila, I still can't understand this whole mind control thing." Kal said.

"I don't either, I'm just wondering if there is some sort of loophole."

"There has to be, considering Octavia is able to have complete control over Octo Valley." Came an unfamiliar voice.

There was an Octoling standing there, whose name was unknown to Inker.

"Ohh is it time for my language lessons again?" Sky asked.

The Octoling nodded and Sky got up and left with her.

Though the Octoling only cut in for a moment, Inker thought about what she said.

'_If Octavia, who was also an Elite Octoling, could find a loophole in Octavio's control then maybe Vale could too.'_

'_Then again, I have hardly any idea how these things work, maybe I should just make her listen to Calamari Inkantation 24/7.'_

"Hey, hello? Inker? Come on dude, don't just space out on me." Kal waved his hand in front of Inker to bring his attention back.

"Oh right…. I think Vale has a better chance of figuring things out than we do. Maybe we should just agree with whatever plans she's got just so we can get them out of the way."

"No." Kal replied instantly "That would mean bringing Lila back down here."

"Do I look like the Vanguard Movement to you?"

"Haha." even if he laughed, Kal would have preferred to forget about the Vanguard Movement.

"What if we brought Lila to Vale, but in a safer place? Say, Cap'n Cuttlefish's place, right beside the manhole to Inkopolis?"

"I'd rather just leave Lila out of this completely, I mean it's fine if she still has trigger words in her head right?"

"You tell me, you're the new Laven." Inker joked

"Don't call me that, and how is Lila going to help Vale get back into action?"

"I don't know, I'm just wondering if maybe…"

"Hey don't just trail off."

"I'm not sure, I mean we know that Vale is trustworthy at this point, so I don't think Lila will be in any danger and if she can get her mind off these little things, maybe she can go back to ending Octavio's regime."

"Why you just give her a headset and make her listen to the Inkcantation."

"Vale's stronger than me remember?"

"Just get Neon to help you."

"She's leaving for Inkopolis again tomorrow."

"Seriously? She just got back like... yesterday!"

"It's Neon and we are weeks away from the final splatfest."

Neon going back for the final splatfest didn't surprise Kal the least.

She was probably bored of sitting around doing nothing but exercise and target practice all day and couldn't wait to go back to Inkopolis.

"You know what, I trust you. I'll go with Neon back to Inkopolis and pay Lila a visit. If she doesn't mind seeing Vale again, I'll bring her to Cuttlefish's place."

"Alright, I'll go tell Vale, hopefully she'll be able to properly lead her splatoon once she's cleared all these distractions."


	38. Truth and Trust

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

The lair was filled with either rebelling Octarian soldiers, or refugees forced to flee from the Undercity due to their connections with Vale and her rebelling splatoon.

The soldiers spent their days training or trying to think up new methods to overthrow Octavia, while the refugees looked after each other.

Meanwhile, Sky was doing neither of those things.

In the room shared by him and his fellow Inklings, Sky sat on a bunk bed, with a pencil and notebook in hand.

He did not wear high level gear like Neon and Kal, nor a high tech suit like Inker, instead he wore a simple t-shirt and shorts, along with his usual glasses.

He looked like a high school freshman studying for his first exams.

Sky was reviewing the notes he had taken while learning how to speak Octarian.

Slowly he was beginning to understand and communicate with Octotroopers and Octoballs, but it wasn't enough, Sky planned to keep going until he was fluent in the language.

He didn't come to Octo Valley for a vacation after all.

There was the sound of rapid footsteps, to Sky's vexation they belonged to Neon.

"Hey Sky!"

"If you are just here to bother me for your own amusement, please leave."

"Urf… giving me the cold shoulder huh…."

Neon observed Sky who was deep in studies, Sky didn't even bother to look up at her.

"Don't you ever get bored of all that mind work? Learn to let go sometimes! Give your brain a rest and your body some fun!" Neon shot her fist into the air to demonstrate her enthusiasm behind those words.

"There's a time and place for that, but not now." Sky replied.

"Oh I get it…. It's because we're in Octo Valley right? Well worry not!"

"I'm not worryin-"

"Because I'm heading back to Inkopolis!-"

There was a brief pause as Sky wasn't paying much attention to Neon.

"Are you trying to get me to come with you?"

"Well Inker is making me take Kal back, so I figured I may as well take you too. Since I figured you are bound to be done and bored with those language lessons by now."

"Then you don't know me very well, I'm not going back to Inkopolis yet."

Oh well, you're gonna miss the Splatfest then!"

"Don't care."

Neon gasped "How could you not care about the SPLATFEST! Oh! I know! It's because you lost last splatfest right? Don't worry, with my powers of observation, I can tell you with side is gonna win! So you won't have to feel sore about losing the final Splatfest!"

Sky tried to interrupt several times to correct Neon's completely fallacious view of him, but failed.

Neon continued rambling with little regard to what Sky wanted to say.

"After all, Vale is busy procrastinating in her office all day so nothing's gonna happen anytime soon, may as well head back to Inkopolis and enjoy the pre Splatfest atmosphere."

"Didn't you just do that a few days ago?"

"Yeah but you know, you can't really enjoy something when you have another thing to do. By the way, I'm not coming back this time! At least until the Splatfest is over maybe…."

"Good."

"Hey! What do you mean by 'good'? You guys are gonna have a real hard time without me backing up you all! Right? I'm really really useful here! right?"

"Are you looking for praise or something? Just go to Inkopolis already."

"Ahh I see, you are an introvert, you actually are reluctant to see me go but hide those feelings."

"What? No! Fine you want to know what I think? While you might be a little better at Turf Wars, you still act like a bumbling buffoon all the time and Inker is much more reliable! Go back to Inkopolis already, I don't care." Having his study time interrupted, Sky was now angry.

Neon was stunned for a brief moment.

"I get it….."

Then she reverted back to her cheerful self and pointed at Sky.

"You are grumpy cause you're losing sleep! Don't study too much! Get your 9 hours of sleep, kay!?"

With that Neon left and Sky was free to go back to reviewing his notes.

Though he quickly realised that he could no longer focus.

'_Damn that troublesome girl!'_ Sky thought.

Sky tried hard to go back to his earlier mindset but failed, Neon had ended up distracting him for the time being.

After all he was also looking forward to the final Splatfest.

What Inkling could possibly miss such a big event?

With his studying mood dissipated, Sky tossed his things off to the side, and lay back into his bunk grumbling.

He wasn't going to lie and pretend he wasn't also considering running back to Inkopolis for the final Splatfest, but he also wasn't selfish enough to actually do it.

'_Although, when you really think about it, isn't it fine?' Sky wondered_

He was speaking with the Octarians more and more often to practice his new language, so he knew well what was going on around him.

Vale was extremely enthusiastic about her whole 'revolt against Octavio' message, yet she is completely idle now.

Also, rations were running lower and lower in the lair.

Victoria and some Octolings had even left without informing the captain to take matters into their own hands.

'_Since Vale wasn't doing anything, would it be fine to head back to Inkopolis?'_

Sky wondered if Neon thought the same, then he wondered if Neon even thinks to begin with.

'_No I shouldn't go that far, despite her usual behavior Neon is quite clever.'_

It originally seemed like Neon could do nothing but fight, but over the last few months Neon would occasionally surprise them.

'_Maybe Neon also realised that returning to Inkopolis now wouldn't really matter since Vale isn't doing anything.'_

Now he was starting to feel guilty about yelling at her.

Though Sky did mean everything he said, it could have been phrased better…

Besides, while Neon may seem annoying at times, Sky and the others still enjoyed her company.

'_I should go apologize before she leaves.'_

* * *

Unfortunately Neon and Kal were long gone.

As Neon and Kal left for Inkopolis, Inker was informing Captain Vale that she would have to go to Cuttlefish's shack to fix Lila, as they were not about to risk bringing Lila this deep into Octo Valley.

Vale had no argument against it.

"So once you've fixed Lila, we'll get back to removing Octavia from power right?" Inker asked

Though he wasn't eager at the idea of more needless conflict, he was asking to test his theory on Vale's mind conditioning.

"Of course." replied Vale.

"Great, then we should replace her with a more Inkling friendly leader once Octavia is gone. No more Octavio and his old feuds."

Inker purposely added that last part to test Vale.

He had been guessing that Octavio's control over the Elite Octolings wasn't very direct.

That was how the Elite Octolings could continue Octavio's legacy without orders from Octavio himself.

In other words, Vale and the other Elite Octolings retained their free will to some degree, but anything that involves opposing DJ Octavio directly was forbidden.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, there is still much to do."

Vale didn't disagree, nor did she agree, instead she just tried to ignore the idea.

Inker decided that much as enough for now, if he keeps emphasizing on getting rid of Octavio, Vale would definitely become suspicious.

"Ahh I see, well then we should get ready to leave for Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack."

"Yes of course, oh right, do you know where Victoria went?" Vale asked

"Uhh, no not at all."

"Hmmm, are you certain?"

Inker nodded "Why?"

"That girl somehow convinced two whole squads to leave with her on an unsanctioned mission to Octo Valley's Undercity and they still haven't returned."

"They are missing? Then we should go looking for them."

"Not yet, I'd like to focus on the task at hand, I'll properly lecture and perhaps congratulate Victoria once she returns."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Nothing else we can do about that, though I am surprised Victoria could gain so much support, considering she should be the least familiar with the others. I'm impressed."

Speaking of which, Victoria, Eliza and the other Octarians accompanying her were already on their way back.

As Victoria predicted, the Octarian army was too busy dealing with riots to notice them.

This should have been the best time for Vale to act, yet she wasn't.

Victoria expected Vale to be less than happy to know that she took some of her troops away without even consulting her first, but it didn't matter.

They had to take advantage of the chaos they created.

If Vale wasn't going to do anything, then Victoria would.

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

"Yay! Home sweet home!" Neon ran and twirled around the plaza.

The final splatfest was on everyone's minds and Kal could hear Callie and Marie's names mentioned everywhere.

It was to be the event of the century.

Neon, being the ball of energy that she was, completely forgot about Kal the moment she stepped foot back into Inkopolis and ran about greeting and speaking to random Inklings in the plaza.

How Neon manages to chat with strangers so easily is something Kal would never know.

Well it didn't inconvene Kal in any way, he didn't need Neon for this next part.

He was supposed to find Lila and bring her to the manhole in Inkopolis plaza.

If Lila agreed that is.

Kal wasn't going to bring Lila into more trouble, not after all the pain and suffering she has been through just over a month ago.

Kal had promised to visit her sometimes, though he hadn't had the chance since he was trying to help Victoria overthrow Octavia.

He felt kind of guilty that his first time visiting Lila would be to ask her if she wanted to see the same Elite Octoling who tossed her into the boiling pit at Melanin prison.

But if Vale was really willing to help Lila, then it could be worth it.

Before Kal could do anything, he returned home.

Like Inker, Kal couldn't shower in Octo Valley since the ink there was all dark magenta and would hurt him.

Since Neon kept saying that Inker was beginning to smell, he assumed he was just as bad.

After a quick shower, Kal realized he couldn't just show up unannounced and take Lila away.

Luckily he still had a certain doctor's number from when he had to play as Laven.

"Asio speaking."

'_Strange way to greet someone' Kal thought_

"Hi doc, it's Kalus Kogia, remember me?"

"Mr Kogia, I didn't think you'd have a reason to call now that Lila's case is closed."

"Yes well about that, you still haven't figured out how to undo whatever the Octarians did to her right?"

"Regrettably yes. If you are calling out of concern, you'll be pleased to hear that the Mother Superior of the Molluscs of Mercy Orphanage has been keeping a close eye on Lila incase something happens. So far no one has taken advantage of Lila's trigger words."

"That's good to hear. I think I may have a way to fix Lila."

"I'd like to hear it."

"Well umm, I don't know any other way to say this… But it involves bringing Lila to a rebelling Octarian captain."

"Octo Valley…."

"Yes."

"I can't imagine Lila being too fond of that place."

"Neither can I, but if anyone can fix Lila, it's a former captain and Elite Octoling."

"So what? You are just going to take Lila to Octo Valley?'

"I'm going to let her decide, so can you speak to whoever is incharge of that orphanage and let them know I'm coming?"

"Very well. The topic of Octarian mind conditioning is very intriguing, do you think I could come along and observe how this Octarian captain cures Lila?"

'_What's so interesting about mind control?'_ Kal wondered

"Umm.. I'm not sure that's a really good idea. There's...well…. alot going on in Octo Valley."

"Yet you're bringing Lila there?"

"I'm not sure yet, I'm going to explain everything to Lila first and let her decide. If you really want to learn about undoing Octarian mind control, maybe you could meet with the Octarian captain once things have died down?"

"Just what is going on in Octo Valley?"

Kal wasn't sure how he was supposed to slip anything past someone like Asio, so he decide to just lay it straight.

"A civil war."

There was a brief pause on Asio's end

"Hmmm… okay then, I'll let the orphanage know that you will be visiting Lila soon."

"Today." Kal insisted, he wanted to get this done and over with so he could get back to Octo Valley.

"Okay, today."

According to Asio, Lila was now spending her days in a place known as the Molluscs of Mercy Orphanage.

Kal thought about calling Neon, but he assumed she had already ran off to Inkopolis tower, so he left for the orphanage on his own.

The Molluscs of Mercy orphanage was run by a religious organization, one that believed the Great Zapfish was a messianic figure which had parted the seas, allowing sea creatures into the promised land which became Inkopolis, thus the son of cod.

So it was no surprise that the orphanage would be run by various cephalopods in navy blue outfits resembling those of human nuns.

The first thing Kal noticed was the variety of creatures here.

Not just Inklings, there were clams, cuttlefish and other sea creatures.

This was because there were hardly any orphans in Inkopolis to begin with, so they were all mixed together in the only orphanage in Inkopolis.

Kal was greeted by a gentle and kind looking Inkling who introduced herself as Mother Superior and was invited inside to see Lila.

A few moments later Kal heard the pitter-patter sound of running feet.

"Kal!"

A happy looking purple Inkling came running up to him.

"Hi Lila, good to see you again."

Lila was looking much better than ever.

"Good to see you too Kal!"

Seeing Lila so happy made Kal wonder if he should just forget about bringing her to Octo Valley.

"Kal? What's wrong?"

"Ohh nothing, so how have you been?"

"I've been great! Everyone here is so friendly! Though I kinda miss my old home sometimes…"

"Work hard and you'll be able to buy it back once you get older."

"I will!"

Lila smiled and Kal smiled back.

"I will grow up and make money from Turf Wars just like my dear brother Laven did!"

The look of dreams and expectations filled Lila's eyes as she imagined buying back her family's house someday.

Lila was still so innocent.

'_Now how am I supposed to explain Vale, civil war and brainwashing to her?'_ Kal wondered.

He had steeled himself to come here and bring Lila to Octo Valley, but upon seeing Lila, he was having second thoughts yet again.

Kal quickly reminded himself that the sooner he could get this done, the sooner they could get back to what mattered most.

"Say Lila, you remember what the Octarians did to you…. Right?"

Kal noticed a brief twitch in one of Lila's eyes.

It seemed like Kal brought back some unpleasant memories.

'_Ahh wait! Was I too straight forward?'_

"Yes…" Lila replied.

The cheerful atmosphere from before was gone, though Lila still smiled it wasn't as pure as it was moments ago.

As for Kal, his face was now full of seriousness, something that was rare for him.

"If there was a chance to reverse what was done to you, would you mind coming with me to Octo Valley?"

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

"Honor to the valley."

'click'

Victoria had returned.

They didn't run into any resistance at all and what's better was that they knew much more about the situation in the Undercity.

'_First: the Octarian army is completely focused on the Undercity now, as Octarians continue to riot despite martial law._

_Second: Even Elite Octolings had to be deployed to oversee the army handling the citizens._

_Third: Octavia is squirming around, trying to convince the population that everything Vale told them was a lie, but to no avail._

_Fourth: The population is divided into three groups, those that support Octavio but disown Octavia, those who disown both and those that are indifferent or are too scared to act._

_All this comes to show that now would be the best time to strike, Octavia might have her back against the wall in Nautilus base, but that doesn't mean we can't start by getting rid of some of the other Elite Octolings.' Victoria planned to tell all this to Captain Vale._

"Victoria, everyone! Welcome back!" Lynn greeted her comrades.

She was followed by some other soldiers and Octarians.

As they went around welcoming the troops back, Lynn whispered to Victoria.

"The captain wants to see you and umm…. Well she's less than pleased."

"Really? Well I was kind of expecting that."

Indeed Vale was angry when Victoria went to see her.

"Did I give you permission to leave the lair on your own missions?"

"With all due respect ma'am."

"Answer the question!"

"No ma'am"

"Running off on your own is one thing, but roping in eleven other Octarians is unacceptable! How did you manage to get them to follow you?"

"With all due respect, I'm not the only one who feels that we are wasting time here."

"We aren't wasting time, we are waiting for an opportunity."

"And that opportunity is now! I've seen the riots, heard the news, the Octarian army has their back against the wall dealing with protests on a scale never before seen to Octariankind!"

"That isn't your call to make! Don't forget that I am still captain of this splatoon and everyone here is supposed to follow me!"

That didn't sound like Vale.

"Is this what this is about? Asserting your dominance, not changing Octo Valley for the better?"

"Ahh…."

'_Right that was my goal.'_

Vale had done it again, she caught herself betraying herself.

'_Why am I angry again? Didn't I plan to simply lecture Victoria then praise her for taking a leadership position?'_

Vale shook her head clear.

"Sorry about that, please forget what I just said." Vale apologized

"Don't worry, everyone here already knows about your condition."

"They do?"

"It's not exactly subtle."

Vale thought that maybe Lynn would figure out that she's still being affected by Octavio's influence, but not the whole splatoon.

"Everyone knows huh."

"Mmhmm. We all still believe you have everyone's best interests at heart, but well, we can't keep waiting for you to step up and lead us anymore."

"I see."

Vale took what Victoria said one step further.

She was already considering the possibility that she had to exclude herself from her splatoon for their sake.

She couldn't keep on leading now that her goal was the overthrow Octavio while working with Inklings. There were too many times where she had to catch herself going against her own plans.

If there was a way out of this mess, Vale wanted to find it now. How can she protect the future of her splatoon and Octo Valley if she was struggling with herself?

'_Maybe I should step down and leave someone else in charge… No that won't stop me from trying to sabotage their efforts… Would it?'_

It was never good to abandon one's comrade on the battlefield.

Vale didn't want to go, but she wasn't sure how to proceed here.

How did she manage to turn so much of Octo Valley against Octavia in the first place?

"Just go round up everyone who went with you and take over the janitor's duties as a punishment for now." Vale dismissed Victoria.

"Ahh wait! there are some things you should know about the situation in the Undercity." Victoria protested

"You'll have to come back to me on that." Vale said, and hurried Victoria out of her office. "Oh and since you were the one behind all this! I want you to clean all the toilets, with a toothbrush!"

Then she let out a massive sigh as she sank into her seat.

A moment passed and Vale found herself silently clutching her face.

She knew Octavio had done something to her and the other Elite Octolings.

She knew what they were being forced to do.

What she still didn't know was how to avert all of it.

Was it even possible for her to do?

Vale considered prioritizing the other Elite Octolings as high value targets, as well as handing over leadership to someone else, but she shut those ideas out….

At least she believed it was her who shut those ideas out.

Vale sighed again.

Suddenly she found herself longing for the days of the past.

The times of the Salmonid war, where everyone knew what they were getting into and everyone was on the same side. Octavio, Maria, Octavia…

Granted she did secretly backstab one of her officers, but that was only because she wasn't making logical decisions.

The saying back then was: "The Octarian army is a well oiled machine. And like all machines, it needs every nut, bolt and part inside it to function. If one part breaks, replace it with a new one."

One of the Colonels back then took that a bit to literally and using her troops as bait or meat shields, under the idea that there were always more Octarians to replace them. That led to a bit of a power struggle between her and Vale.

From a bystander's perspective, that would put Vale on a similar level to Octavia; two ambitious and dangerous officers who would screw over their superiors to advance in the ranks.

'_But I'm different!'_ Vale assured herself _'I'm not like Octavia, who doesn't give a damn about casualties as long as she gets all the power.'_

Just like that, Vale spent about an hour trying to justify herself, before getting lost in nostalgic memories again.

What snapped her back to reality was Lynn.

"U-umm captain? Why haven't you picked up your rations for tonight?"

'_What a great adjutant, coming to check on me when I forgot to leave for dinner. Though I wish she could learn to lose the nervousness in her voice everytime she speaks to me.'_ Vale thought

Then she realised it, Lynn was here calling reminding her to eat dinner, which meant she wasted an entire day in her office doing nothing.

'_Cod dammit!'_

* * *

Meanwhile, Victoria, Eliza and a few other Octarians had finished their punishment of cleaning the lair.

They arrived at the mess hall a bit later than everyone else, not that it mattered since rationed food would always taste the same.

They were greeted by an Octoball.

"Yo! Finally done cleaning up?"

This one particular Octoball had gone with them to the Undercity, but he did not help clean the lair as he lacked arms, tentacles, or pretty much anything to hold stuff with.

"Yes of course…" Victoria was only slightly annoyed that this stupid ball had gotten off easy.

"What took you so long anyways?" Another Octoling asked.

"You guys had it easy! Since I was the one behind our little unsanctioned mission, the captain made me clean the toilets with a toothbrush!" Victoria replied.

The Octarians who heard this, chuckled a bit at Victoria's misfortune.

"Well, my condolences." the Octoball added "I'd have helped but well, I can't stand the smell of grime! Haha!"

"We know." Eliza cut in "That's why I told Victoria to use your toothbrush."

"...what?"

Victoria nodded in confirmation, then could no longer stop herself from smirking.

"Oh get over yourself!" huffed the Octoball

At that point they noticed Lynn and the captain walk in.

Lynn had already eaten, but she took a seat with Victoria and Eliza regardless.

As for captain Vale, she grabbed her share of rations and left.

"Geez, what's wrong with the captain? She's been holed up in her office for days now." Eliza commented.

The nearby Octarians all gave various shrugs.

Inker noticed Vale's rapidly changing behavior as well.

If he were to guess why Vale was acting like this, it would be because she's trying to figure out how to free Octo Valley from Octavio on her own.

Inker wondered if he should just come clean about the Inkantation, surely Vale could understand if she'd listen to the song for a bit first right?

Or what if everything he knew was a lie and it was actually the Inkantation that brainwashed creatures?

Inker shook the thought out of his head, this was no time for paranoia.

He hurried past Victoria, briefly meeting eyes with Eliza, who frowned upon seeing Agent 3, but did her best to quickly turn away.

With his squid phone in his hands and the Calamari Inkantation selected, Inker took a deep breath, called Cap'n Cuttlefish over his hero suit to double check on what he knew about the song, then he proceeded to explain everything to Captain Vale.

How the Calamari Inkantation was a song which countered I Am Octavio.

Vale's first thought was that Inker was admitting to trying to brainwash her to suit Inkopolis' needs.

Inker insisted he had no such plans.

"Then what about Cuttlefish? I know that old squid is always watching through this." Vale said, placing a finger on Inker's chest.

She was pointing directly at the hidden camera on Inker's Hero Suit, the one Cuttlefish used to check on him at any time.

"Tell me, doesn't Cuttlefish listen in on every one of our exchanges?"

"I wouldn't say that."

Though Vale had guessed correctly, Cuttlefish was listening in every time he spoke with Vale, as he was still suspicious of Vale's change of heart.

She could keep on complaining about Cuttlefish eavesdropping and doing things behind her back, but something stopped her.

She was on the verge of remembering something. It had something to do with that song, it was on the tip of her mind, yet she couldn't figure it out.

Inker looked, confused as to why Captain Vale was making strange facial expressions, as if she was trying really hard to answer a difficult question.

It took a while, but Vale remembered feeling this way before.

Yes, she felt this same feeling back when she was giving a speech to her splatoon about their new goals, she was trying to speak out against Octavio directly, but even though those words, those ideas were right on the tip of her tongue, she couldn't force herself to say it.

'_Could this be another part of Octavio's mind conditioning?' Vale wondered_

"Play that song." she ordered.

"Huh?" Inker exclaimed

"Play it now." Vale commanded in her usual stern voice, yet there was a hint of uncertainty in it.

Inker obeyed, moments later the Calamari Inkantation resonated throughout Vale's office.

Vale took a deep breath and closed her eyes, as if meditating.

The song was familiar, she had heard it a few times by now.

That's when she remembered, she heard this very same song when she and Victoria took that captured Elite Octoling to Inkopolis for questioning.

She heard that song, not long before meeting Octavio and openly declared her desertion. Then she heard it again when Inker told her about it shortly before she broadcast her message to the Undercity.

In these moments Vale's thoughts and memories became clear.

Octavio's control was deeply rooted into the minds of the Elite Octolings, that's why Vale was unknowingly slowing herself down.

Victoria had been right, with the chaos in the Undercity, now was the best time for this small group of rebelling Octarians to prepare for the upcoming conflict.

But the shock and chaos generated by the rioting populace wouldn't last long, it wouldn't take very long for Octavia and the Elite Octolings to steel themselves and put down those protests in Octavio's name.

'_Yes, even if Octavia pretends to lead Octo Valley on her own, she's still a puppet of Octavio, just like me and all the other Elite Octolings.'_

"Umm, are you all right?" Inker asked.

Vale had spaced out ever since the Inkantation started playing.

Vale shook herself back and straightened up.

"Yes I'm fine."

The reason she had spaced out, was because she saw how risky it was for things to continue on like this.

She needed a way out, a way to remove herself from the equation, but not doom her subordinates.

"By the way, when are you leaving for Cuttlefish's place? Kal should have brought Lila by now."

"Lila?" Vale looked confused

"You are still going to undo Octavia's brainwashing on Lila right?"

"Oh yeah right! Of course. We'll get going right away!"

Vale wasn't sure why she had offered to do such a thing.

She wasn't against it, but just the timing couldn't be worse, clearly Octavio was clouding her judgement.

Vale wondered what she could possibly do to remove herself from her splatoon without ruining everything for everyone else.

"Lynn!" She called out for her adjutant.

Lynn quickly rushed to Vale's side.

"Yes ma'am!"

"I'm heading out, go gather all the information you can from Victoria and the others, I want a full report done by the time I return."

"Y-yes! Right away!"

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

Back on the surface, Kal and Lila had returned to the manhole.

Lila didn't look too happy to return to Octo Valley, but she still agreed to come.

Kal correctly assumed that Lila knew the dangers that those trigger phrases in her head could pose, thus she was willing to bear with Octo valley and all the bad memories it brought back.

Kal knew how much Lila wanted to stay away from Octo valley, after all he was the one who helped her broadcast that message to Inkopolis telling everyone to stay away from Octo Valley and disband the Vanguard Movement.

But when he mentioned that there was someone in Octo Valley who could remove the trigger words from her, Lila accepted immediately.

Lila's determination to make things right, reminded Kal of a certain someone currently hiding out in Octo Valley.

Lila hesitated a bit when they arrived, but she took a deep breath and hopped into the manhole to Octo Valley.

Kal followed shortly after.

Cuttlefish was there to greet them.

Kal looked to the side and saw what appeared to be DJ Octavio's snowglobe, though it was now wrapped thoroughly in blankets and pillows so he couldn't catch a glimpse of Octavio.

"What happened to Octavio?" Kal wondered

"Listen here bucko, you can never be too careful around your enemies. I ain't going to risk Octavio speaking and using Lila to escape."

"Oh I see."

Though Kal questioned whether or not Cuttlefish should be called paranoid or thoughtful, maybe a bit of both.

"You just happen to have a ton of blankets on hand, in case you need to shut up Octavio?"

"Nah, I had to borrow some from my grandchildren… Hey what's with that look of yours?"

Some of those blankets covering Octavio's snowglobe were used by Callie and Marie.

As a huge fan of the Squid Sisters, Kal felt the urge to nab one for a souvenir, but he didn't know which was which, so he shut that idea out.

Inker was late.

Or rather they didn't set a time to meet up, nor did they have the Octarians' innate sense of time.

Kal and Lila had to awkwardly wait for almost half an hour before Captain Vale and Inker showed up.

When they eventually arrived, Vale and Cuttlefish stared each other down once again.

"So you trust me now? Or do you need to watch a few more hours of me and your agent co-operating?" Vale called out Cuttlefish on his eavesdropping through Inker's hidden camera.

"I have better things to do than watch my agents all day, don't super jump to conclusions just cause ya know how to spot a hidden camera."

Sensing a fight brewing between the two captains, Inker started playing the Calamari Inkantation to hopefully calm Vale down.

Understanding his intentions, Vale laughed and looked at Inker. "What? Did you think we were going to shoot each other?"

Then she turned her attention to Lila.

Lila recognised Vale in a flash, in a bit of a panic, she instinctively grabbed Kal.

"It's her!" Lila whispered to Kal

"Yeah, she's the one who going to fix you."

Lila rapidly glanced between Vale and Kal.

"Are you sure? Do you remember what she did to us in Melanin prison?"

"Yeah but.. well she seems to have changed for the better after she was chased out of the Octarian army."

Vale eyed Lila and Kal whispering back and forth.

"I see Lila's is less than thrilled to see me, oh well, if she changes her mind now that's understandable."

"No, I'm fine." Lila insisted

Vale turned to Cuttlefish.

"And I assume the good Cap'n will want to stand by and watch because he still doesn't trust me?"

"Nah, just get it done and get outta my house." Perhaps feeling a bit guilty after being called out earlier, Cuttlefish agreed to leave Vale to do her own work.

"Good, now Agent 3, hand over your phone, I don't want to mess this up, so I want to hear the Inkantation at all times."

"I can take care of that, you just run along bucko." Cuttlefish added

Finally Vale looked at Lila again.

"Well?"

Lila moved towards Vale, but Kal stopped her for a moment.

"We'll be out here, so scream if anything goes wrong."

Lila nodded, then she and Captain Vale disappeared into Cuttlefish's shack together.

* * *

Kal and Inker waited patiently outside the house.

They could hear the muffled sounds of Calamari Inkantation playing within, it had been on a loop for the past 15 minutes now.

Kal, growing uneasy, went inside to check on Lila, but so far everything seemed fine.

Vale didn't seem to be hurting Lila in any way.

When he came back outside, Inker was speaking the universal language to a jellyfish who had just came through the manhole.

The jellyfish however, only presented Inker with a receipt.

"What is this? I didn't order anything. Hold on let me see that. Hmm the name says…"

"Ahhh! That's mine!"

Out of nowhere Neon snatched the receipt, signed it rapidly and shoved it back to the jellyfish.

"Gahh! Where did you come from!"

"I was just making my way back!" Neon glanced around "Is Sky not here?"

"No, why would he be here?"

"Oh…" Neon showed just a hint of sadness.

Meanwhile the jellyfish took one look at the receipt, then left.

Moments later he returned, with a few more jellyfish wearing matching outfits.

The Jellyfish of Inkopolis were linked to one another in a hive mind, so they were regarded as a well coordinated workforce in Inkopolis. That was shown here as the Jellyfishes' walked perfectly in sync with one another as they carried crates through the manhole and left them in front of Cuttlefish's shack.

"What's the meaning of this? Why are these jellies unloading crates into Octo Valley?"

"Oh that's simple! So you know how I'm not coming back until the final splatfest is done? Well to be honest, I may have felt just a tiny little bit guilty about that. So I'm helping Vale restock on rationable food before saying goodbye! It's not that much, but I think it can feed the whole lair for a few more weeks."

"Wha… wait so this is all non perishable food? There's so much! How much money did you spend?!" Inker exclaimed

"It's nothing I can't afford, actually if you know the right suppliers and plan to buy in bulk, they often offer you discounts so that they can guarantee the sale."

"Since when did you know all that? Hold on, you said it's nothing you can't afford, are you secretly a rich girl or something?"

"I'm loaded with normally useless knowledge remember! Haha!"

'_What a weird thing to brag about. Though this is Neon.'_

Even though they had known each other for quite some time, Neon was still full of surprises.

"Nah, I just have alot saved up cause I only need one Custom E-Liter to dominate ranked." Neon proudly announced.

"But you bought that E-Liter recently. Actually you bought several.." Kal pointed out

"So what? Hey don't tell me you are secretly a gold digger, sorry but you should stay on the Victoria route."

"That's not what I meant!"

"Yeah I get it, I'm just playing with ya."

Neon turned and prepared to leave again, then she remembered something else.

She grabbed Inker and shouted into his Hero Suit

"Heyyyy! Sky! Can you hear me?"

"Even if he can hear you, you won't be able to hear him." Inker reminded.

"Ahh right! I'm too used to Sky being mission control… Anyways! See Sky! I'm not a buffoon! I'm actually very thoughtful!" Neon ignored what Inker said and continued shouting at his Hero suit, just in case Sky was wearing his Hero headset and was listening.

"Well that's that, you'll have to carry everything back to the lair. I'm off to Inkopolis now! Inker you take care and try to stop getting splatted, Kal good luck with Victoria!"

Before any of her friends could reply, Neon dashed for the manhole.

Though she stopped for a brief moment and looked back.

Perhaps so part of her wanted to stay, but the splatfest meant everything to her.

If she had to choose between freeing Octo Valley or the Final splatfest, she would pick the Splatfest, that's the kind of Inkling she was.

Not hero, just someone out for a good time.

Neon had made up her mind, she wasn't going to come back until after the final splatfest.

* * *

Inside Cuttlefish's shack, Vale worked on Lila while the Calamari Inkantation was still playing.

She didn't want to unknowingly mess things up and turn Lila into a servant of Octavio, so she made sure that song was always playing to keep her head clear.

There were certain tools and drugs needed to fix Lila, luckily Vale had all she needed on hand.

She held up a syringe, which contained a mixture of various elements.

There was one last thing she needed.

She turned to Lila, who lay comfortably on a sofa.

"I know I wasn't exactly friendly when we first met, but right now I need you to trust me for this to work." Vale said

"I do." Lila replied

She might say so, but Vale could tell when someone was lying.

Like she always told Lynn and the rest of her splatoon, there was no point in proceeding with anything if there was no trust.

She sighed, and put down the needle.

"Do you know why I'm doing this? Lila."

Lila shook her head.

"I was wronged, being forced to do things I didn't want to do. Just like you were."

This got Lila's attention.

To Lila, Vale was a very strong character who was the type to give orders and be in control, not be controlled.

"Do you remember the name Claire?" Vale asked.

"Yes."

Back when Lila was imprisoned at Melanin prison, Claire was the Octoling who was assigned to look after her after she survived the boiling pit. So naturally Lila trusted Claire.

In reality, Claire was Vale's right hand, Vale had plans for Lila back but for them to succeed she first needed Lila to develop feelings of compassion and trust someone who could act as her handler.

Unfortunately Octavia took Lila off Vale's hands before she could follow through with her plans.

Luckily now she could use Claire to try and get Lila to trust her and make this un-brainwashing process much easier.

"Claire and several others were killed by our Acting Leader, an Elite Octoling named Octavia." Vale continued "She was my protege, and she died protecting me."

There was a hint of sadness in Vale's usually stern and commanding voice.

Lila could tell she meant what she was saying.

"Then after that, I thought to get revenge on Octavia by getting rid of her and freeing DJ Octavio. But then I found out that DJ Octavio was not who I thought he was, he controlled me, he used me." Vale explained "So now here I am, trying to make up for everything I did under his sway."

Lila nodded.

"I understand, I really do. I understand how you feel."

Lila went through similar things.

She lost her beloved family to the Octarians, then she realized she was being used for Octavia's goals.

Right now, Lila felt that Vale was not the captain from Melanin prison, but someone who had been through the same troubles she had.

Lila wasn't as experienced as Vale when it came to reading microexpressions, but to her the emotion behind Vale's words was enough to make her believable.

Naturally, that made her begin to trust Vale.

"I was forced to lure dozens of Inklings into Octo Valley, only for them to be splatted one after the other….."

"I know, I heard all about from Agent 3, the Vanguard Movement, the trigger words, a shattered girl."

The two were vastly different, one was a young and naive 11 year old, another was a 35 year old veteran of war. Yet the two had such similarities in their lives.

"Do you ever feel the need to get back at the Octarians? Or rather Acting Leader Octavia?" Vale asked.

"U-umm well, it's bad to hurt people right? and I can't do anything, it should be left to Agent 3."

"Hmm…. of course."

Vale came upon a realization.

The 'way out' that she was seeking, had been lying in front of her all along.

There were also people she could depend on.

'_Agent 3, Lynn, Victoria and all those others. If I can't stop Octavio myself, I should make it so that I can leave it to them.'_

Well that was for later.

For now she should get this little distraction out of her way.

"I think we understand one another, with that comes trust. Let's proceed, though you'll probably fall asleep after this."

"I don't mind."

With Lila's approval and trust, Vale began her work.


	39. Next Generation

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

"Lila! How are you feeling?"

Kal immediately rushed to Lila's side as soon as she and Captain Vale left Cuttlefish's shack.

Lila rubbed her eyes upon exiting. "Tired"

"She just woke up, give her some time." Vale explained.

Captain Vale was now carrying a boombox with her, which was playing the Calamari Inkantation, it seemed like she was taking no more chances with Octavio and his form of mind control and planned to listen to the Inkantation at all times now.

Kal thought to question why Lila had to be asleep during whatever de-mindcontroling process Vale just used, but didn't.

"She's shouldn't feel compelled to obey those trigger words anymore, observe. Lila, it would be much appreciated if you perform a handstand for us right now."

"Hmm? Why?" Lila asked, still half asleep.

"Hey, there aren't going to be any side effects, like say…. Lila is always going to look drowsy from now on?" Kal asked

"Of course not, it doesn't work like that." Vale replied.

Kal turned back to Lila "Hey Lila, it would be much appreciated if you joined us in Octo Valley."

Lila looked to Kal in surprise. "What? Really? But I really don't want to see Octo Valley anymore."

Lila's response was an uncertain one.

"Sorry I just had to check." Kal explained.

"Well if you are satisfied, we should get back to the lair as quickly as possible." Vale said

Kal nodded, and turned to Lila "Let's get you back to the orphanage."

Kalus and Captain Vale went in opposite directions.

"Come on Agent 3." Vale said.

"I think I'll go with Kal, you know, just in case something happens on the way back."

"Hey I can handle myself just fine!" Kal protested

"Ehh…" Inker smiled awkwardly.

"I'll send Eliza here as soon as we get back, now come on."

"Eliza? I'm sure literally anyone else would be a better choice."

"Fine then, I'll send anyone but Eliza."

"Why not Lynn? She's familiar with Kal already. Why are you in such a hurry to get back?" Inker asked.

"Because I've wasted too much time in these past days! Now come on, let's get going."

"Hey at least give the Cap'n his boombox back."

Vale was planning on keeping that boombox with her the whole time so that she could keep her mind clear using Calamari Inkantation.

"Ahh I let her keep it. It's a gift, from one cap'n to another." Cuttlefish explained

"Weren't you two at each other's necks just a while ago?"

"Ahhh that's in the past, anyone who is a fan of the Squid Sisters and their squidtastic grooves is a friend of mine!" Cuttlefish declared

Vale nodded "Besides, it's only natural for there to be some bit of rivalry between us captains of opposite races. Still, there's no hard feelings, heck I wouldn't mind grabbing a drink and discussing strategy with you, should we meet again. Ahh but that's unlikely."

'_Rivalry? You two were practically staring daggers into each other every time your eyes met. Does one song really make that big of a difference?'_ Inker wondered.

"Ahh right, what about the crates?" Kal remembered

"Crates?"

They almost forgot such a conspicuous bunch of items.

"Yeah, Neon felt bad about leaving us to dry, so she spent a lot of money on extra rations for your splatoon."

"In that case I'll send some Octolings here to retrieve it, for now Agent 3, I want you to return to the lair with me, there is a lot we must do."

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

When Vale returned, she was back to the normal self, not the one which sat around doing nothing, but the one which did everything to accomplish her goals.

Inker and Vale were greeted by Lynn as soon as they returned, Lynn handed Vale the report she requested and Vale began giving orders left and right.

"Lynn, find some volunteers among the refugees who can carry heavy loads and send them to the manhole leading to Inkopolis to retrieve some supplies left there. Just in case Octavia tries to intercept them, send a squad of soldiers as well. Also, go find Victoria Holter and meet me in the sparring room as soon as possible."

Lynn smiled seeing Vale's reenergized self.

This was the captain she and all the other Octarians trusted.

The real hero of Ark Polaris.

"Right away ma'am!" Lynn saluted Vale and hurried off into the lair.

"What about me?" Inker asked

"You're coming with me."

Vale took Inker to the sparring room, where a few other soldiers were, they stood at attention as soon as Vale entered and Vale quickly dismissed them.

"Umm, what are we doing here? Don't tell me you want to fight me again, I really can't beat you in a fistfight." Inker reminded Captain Vale

"We call that hand to hand combat here, and you're right. Despite your achievements against Octavio and the army, you still managed to lose to me, that is unacceptable."

"It's just cause I hardly ever fight without weapons."

"Oh is that so? Then what about your friend Neon? She was at least able to tie with me."

"Yeah but that's Neon we are talking about. She's probably the most unpredictable Inkling on the planet."

"Unpredictable, yes that's right, being unpredictable will give you an edge in combat."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, Agent 3, I can't keep this up. I keep thinking that I can simply resist Octavio's control and get rid of Octavia, but if anything these past weeks have shown me that I can't."

"But the Calamari Inkantation! That helped you get back on track didn't it?"

"Yes but what's the use? I can't fight while listening to music, i'm pretty much losing one of my senses in exchange for freedom and there's no telling if the Inkantation will fail someday. The most I can do now is to prepare you and the others for the upcoming conflict."

"I think i'm fine."

"No you really aren't. Haven't you already been splatted several times by now?"

"Well yes, but that was to save those who can't respawn."

"In other words, you are far too dependant on your whole respawning gimmick. If you had properly planned ahead, you wouldn't need to get yourself splatted. Get ready Agent 3. You might be used to turf war games and whatever Cuttlefish did to train you, but in these next few weeks I'm going to give you some Octarian military training."

Inker just stood there and shivered at Vale's declaration.

"Heh, uhhh… can I pass?"

"No. Didn't you say you wanted Inklings and Octarians to stop fighting? This may be your chance to make that dream a reality. Once I'm done with you, Victoria and Lynn. You three will be the ones to really make a difference."

* * *

"Victoria, the captain wants to see you."

Lynn brought Victoria to the sparring room, where she was tossing Inker around in many different ways.

"Lynn! Victoria! Good, you are all here."

"What did you want me for?" Victoria asked

"Simple, to train you."

"Train me? I've already been-"

"Trained? By the regular officers in the Octarian army yes, but that won't suffice. Right now you need to be all you can be, I'll make sure of that. You too Lynn."

"E-ehhh!? Me? But umm, why me?"

"Who else would be more trustworthy than my adjutant?"

Victoria was surprised by this sudden development, but she was also a little excited.

All her life, she dreamed of becoming a perfect soldier, a great defender of Octo Valley.

She had spent years preparing herself to enroll in the Octarian army, while she may have lost faith in Acting Leader Octavia and befriended Inklings, being a soldier was still something she looked forward to.

In other words, this was an opportunity she could not pass up.

To think that an Elite Octoling was offering to train her and such a well respected one at that.

Victoria beamed, and alongside the still fidgeting Lynn she exclaimed

"We're in!"

"Good, for starters let's practice hand to hand combat, think you can take on Agent 3?"

Vale helped Inker back on his feet, where he then faced off against Victoria.

"So uhh, are we supposed to fight?" Inker asked.

"Of course? What do you think hand to hand combat is?" Victoria replied "I lost to you once in Inkopolis back when we were enemies, so today I can even the score!"

"Alright! If you're so confident, then come at me!"

* * *

After bringing Lila back to the Molluscs of Mercy orphanage, Kal returned to Octo Valley, he found around two dozen Octolings at Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack.

They were there to retrieve all the food that Neon had bought for them.

Kal recognised the Octoling leading the bunch as the one who held a grudge against Inker, Eliza.

Inker had insisted that Vale send anyone but Eliza, however Vale forgot to pass on those instructions to Lynn when she sent her to pick a squad to send to the manhole.

Of course, Eliza's personal grudge only applied to Inker and not Inklings as a whole, so she had no problem with Kal.

Kal helped Eliza and the Octolings carry the crates full of rations to Vale's hideout.

When they arrived, Kal happened to pass by a curious looking Sky.

"I thought you and Neon went back to Inkopolis, Where did you get all this stuff?" he asked

"Neon bought it."

"Huh?"

"Neon bought it, she ran off as soon as we made it to Inkopolis, then when I brought Lila to Cuttlefish's place Neon showed up with a bunch of jellyfish hauling these things."

Sky sighed "Really… Neon doing something unnecessary again."

"I don't know, Neon seemed very self conscious about leaving us to participate in the splatfest. She actually wanted you to know directly and was shouting into Inker's Hero suit just in case you happened to have your headset on."

"I don't wear that very often, but did Neon really want me to know specifically?"

"Yes, she called you by name."

"Hmm, I wonder if this is because I called her an unreliable buffoon. That troublesome girl, don't tell me she put herself in debt just to try and make herself useful." Sky muttered.

"Still, at least she tries to make up for leaving us to indulge herself in Inkopolis. Honestly though, I kinda want to do the same."

"You too huh? Same here."

It goes without saying that everyone who ever enjoyed Turf Wars was looking forward to it.

But unlike Neon, Sky was determined to show self restraint and only return if there are no consequences.

Consequences being that he'd need an escort to get back to Inkopolis.

Besides he was still studying Octarian and was almost capable of fluent speech, though his vocabulary is still lacking.

Kal, on the other hand, did want to leave, but he felt uneasy at the thought of it.

He told himself that it was simply because he knew too many people down here.

Inker and Sky could return to Inkopolis with him, but not Lynn and Victoria.

There were some things that were just more important to Kal.

* * *

That night.

"Ahhhh! Everything hurts." Inker complained as he lay in his bunk bed.

"What happened to you?" Kalus asked

Inker had spent the entire day training with Vale, Lynn and Victoria.

"Did Vale kick you around the block again?"

"If only, I thought I was better, I mean come on! I'm Agent 3 for crying out loud! When did I get so weak?"

Inker knew he couldn't take on Captain Vale in unarmed combat, but he didn't expect Victoria and even Lynn to best him.

"Victoria never stops trying to improve herself, from what I've seen, being a soldier is everything to her." Kal explained.

"Okay I get that, but I beat her once before, I didn't think so much would change in these past few months. Lynn too, she looks acts so shy and nervous around me but even she still managed to pin me down once!"

In that particular event, Lynn was surprised she managed to take down Agent 3, she didn't believe it at first and asked if Inker was feeling sick or hungry, which only hurt Inker's pride further.

"Well, I think I saw Lynn practicing with Neon before." Kal recalled.

"Even though you are Agent 3, that doesn't mean you won't fall behind." Sky added

"I'm not falling behind! If this was anything like Turf Wars I wouldn't have any trouble!"

"But that's the thing, this isn't Turf Wars. Victoria has been telling me that all the time." Kal replied.

"Stop it, seriously I'm starting to feel useless now. I think I'll turn in early."

'_No you aren't nearly as useless as me.' _Kal wanted to say.

He hadn't been doing anything noteworthy as of late and was starting to feel anxious about it.

* * *

Over the next week, Captain Vale's splatoon found itself being led by a newly motivated Captain Vale.

"Eliza take your squad and mix yourselves in with the protesting Octarians, observe the army and take note of which Elite Octoling is leading which splatoon."

"Yes ma'am"

"Sui, your squad is going to the Undercity as well, your job is to keep an eye on Eliza's squad and help them escape if needed."

"Understood ma'am."

"Ashley, your squad is going to stay on standby and send new orders to Eliza and Sui when needed."

"Got it."

She was vastly different from the captain who had done nothing but hole up in her office just days ago.

"That's our captain for ya."

"Yeah! With the captain's head back in the game, we are back in business!"

"Let's end Octavia's regime!"

The sight of Vale's determination and leadership motivated the rest of her troops.

They had already been loyal to the captain, now they were reminded as to why.

Meanwhile Vale now spent most of her time training Victoria, Inker and Lynn.

First there was physical training.

"Huff huff."

"Huff huff."

"You two tired already?" Victoria asked, as passed by Inker and Lynn.

"Huff… I'm used to running around playing Turf Wars, but Turf Wars don't last this long… How do you have so much stamina?"

"I used to jog every day while preparing myself to join the army. I can run five miles in less than 30 minutes and keep on going."

"Huff… You are amazing Victoria." Lynn commented.

On the sidelines, Vale took note of what was happening.

As for why Vale was doing this, she wanted to assess the trio's strengths and weaknesses.

Victoria was undoubtedly the most physically fit of the three. As for Inker and Lynn they seemed to be on a similar level.

As for target practice…

"..."

"..."

"... I can feel you staring at me, what is it?" Inker asked.

"Ahhh s-sorry, I'm just trying to figure out how you are doing that." Lynn replied

Lynn and Victoria both received weapon training, but it wasn't anything like Inker's experiences with Turf Wars, which could be considered a much more advanced way to train soldiers.

"If you really want help just ask."

"R-really? I figured that maybe you would be too focused on your own training and…"

"Don't worry about it. The Octoshot isn't too different from the Hero Shot right? I'll give you some pointers."

Although Inker's method of handling his Hero Shot didn't look as polished as the way Victoria and Lynn handled their weapons, Inker was much more accurate.

But in hand to hand combat, Inker really flunked.

He never had to fight anyone with his bare hands before, so unlike Victoria and Lynn who receive some basic hand to hand combat training, he had no idea what to do.

The three repeated the same activities for two days on their own, before Vale was satisfied with her assessment of the three.

But there was more to battle than just stamina, shooting and strength.

"Today I'm going to teach you strategy!" Vale declared. "You may be used to fighting in smaller engagements, but today I want you to think on a grander scale."

Of course, strategy differed between the various Octarian leaders Octoweapons and officers.

Obviously Vale couldn't know them all, so she made sure to drill in two important points:

"One: No strategy holds forever, always seek to adapt and overcome. And two: always aim for a killing blow, it's better to end things quickly than to prolong the fighting and cause a greater loss of life!"

Vale would go on to explain what sort of tactics she had used, or seen during her time in the Octarian army.

Victoria, wanting to become the ideal soldier, paid close attention to everything Vale said.

Lynn did so too, as she looked up to the captain like an idol.

Inker on the other hand wasn't sure if he could relate to the kinds of battles that Vale was explaining, but he figured it could be important in the future.

This kept on going, everyday Vale would spend a few early hours in her office, listening to the Calamari Inkantation and evaluating the situation in Octo Valley, then the rest of the day was spent on shaping up Inker, Victoria and Lynn.

Then on the third day of training.

"You guys have a break now, right?"

Inker, Lynn and Victoria had just finished running, when Kal showed up, followed by Violet and a bunch of Octoling kids.

They brought towels and drinks.

Even though Inker and Lynn were completely out of breath Kal handed a towel and drink to Victoria first.

"Thanks… Oh Violet, you're here too?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be? We heard that the captain was push you to your limits so we figured we'd offer you our support!"

From behind her, the Octoling kids ran to Lynn and plastered themselves to her.

"Lynn!" x3

"They wanted to know why they didn't see you yesterday, so I brought them here." Violet explained.

Kal recalled that these Octoling kids were the siblings of Lynn's now deceased friends. Lynn had been taking care of them along with Violet, but now Lynn was too busy to see them.

"Ahh good to see you kids… ahh hold on stop! I'm going to fall over!" Lynn panicked as the three young Octolings hopped on her while she was already tired from her run.

"We don't know what's going on." one of the kids said.

"It's important grown up stuff remember! We can't understand."

"Ahh right! The red Inkling said we should cheer you all on!"

Then all three of them said at once "Good luck! We hope you can save Octo valley!"

This put a smile on Lynn's face, as for Victoria and Inker, they turned to Kal, as if asking what the kids meant by "the red Inkling said we should cheer you on." In response Kal averted his gaze.

But he and Violet didn't stop showing up to support their friends.

* * *

About a week into training, Inker, Lynn and Victoria were exhausted.

In the meantime, Eliza and the Octarians that Vale had sent out, returned.

On that day, Inker, Kal, Sky, Victoria, Lynn, Eliza and some other Octarians met during dinnertime.

"Great job today Victoria." Kal had been doing his best to support the three ever since they began training.

"Thanks." Although Victoria was as tired as Inker and Lynn, she made an effort to hide it.

Meanwhile Eliza still disliked Inker and generally avoided him, but then she found out that Captain Vale was now training him.

"I can't believe the captain is training you personally! I mean training Lynn makes sense, but why you and Victoria?" Eliza complained to Inker

"Oh? Jealous?" Victoria cut in

"No! If anything I'm envious! Why is it that you and this Inkling are being shaped up into brilliant soldiers, while I, who spent three years under the captain's command, is sent to do recon work?"

Victoria couldn't help but wear a smug expression in the face of an obviously jelly Eliza.

"You look happy." Kal remarked.

"Of course! Do you know how much I've wanted this? The opportunity to be an even better soldier?"

Kal smiled "Of course I do, you went on and on about being a soldier back in Inkopolis. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks Kal!" Even though Kal wasn't the best when it came to fighting, Victoria couldn't help but feel joy with him backing her.

'_Though it would be better if he did so from a safe place, like Inkopolis.' Victoria thought_

"Is it really that big of a deal? I mean sure we are doing full body workouts and studying strategy, but I don't feel any different. heck I still can't hold out against Vale in hand to hand combat." Inker said

"Are you serious? You know who studies strategy? Elite Octolings and those applying to become Elites." Eliza exclaimed

"Wait so basically Vale is making me into an Elite Octoling?" Inker looked to Victoria for confirmation, who nodded in response.

Eliza on the other hand grew increasingly jealous.

"Though it normally takes much longer, perhaps the captain knows of a way to streamline the process... Yes that must be it! Lynn! Please pay close attention and teach me once you are done!"

"Well uhh, I'll try my best."

"Hey if you want you can take my place, I don't think this whole military training is right for me." Inker said.

However Eliza declined his offer "Nonsense! The captain chose you so you must follow! As much as I'd hate to say it, there must be a reason why you were chosen and not me!"

"Well there's the fact that I am Agent 3."

"Are you reminding me of that to piss me off?! No forget that, if it was that simple there wouldn't be a reason to train you over me…"

Eliza had brought up a good point, Inker wondered why she would train him and Victoria instead of someone she knew better.

The only way to find out was to ask, though that would have to wait.

Because Vale would not relent any time for questionning, she spent every second training and commanding her splatoon.

It was almost as if she was on a schedule.

Inker, Victoria and Lynn spent everyday improving themselves, while Kal and Violet continued offering their support.

Sky eventually joined in as well, since he was still staying in the lair to practice his Octarian.

As for Eliza and the rest of the splatoon, Vale constantly sent them on missions to either watch the army's movements, or try to assassinate one of the Elite Octolings leading the army.

* * *

Two weeks later, Vale stopped with her training.

So Inker finally had time to ask "Captain, why did you decide to train me and Victoria instead of anyone else?"

Vale just smiled, as if she had just accomplished something great.

Everything was falling into place, there was just one last thing to do.

"Well you see-" Vale began, but she was cut off by the return of Eliza and a bunch of other Octarians.

"Give me a moment." Vale excused herself.

She made her way to the returnees.

"Report."

"Captain, three dead, seven wounded, the army is catching on, this time we weren't able to reach the Elite Octoling, plus they were able to lure us out of the crowd." Eliza said.

"I see ,well we can't expect the same plan to work over and over. Still you did good, tell the others, I am proud of what they've done."

"Of course ma'am"

Vale took some time to go over everything that has happened.

'_The Octarian army is catching on, the initial shock from those broadcasted messages is starting to wear off.'_

Vale knew that sooner or later the Octarian army was going to fully recover, find some way to calm down the protesting Octarians and come for her and her splatoon again.

She felt that Octavia might have been holding back before, perhaps because Vale had a good reputation and a strong following, so Octavia wouldn't attack her directly.

But the only way Octavia was putting an end to these protests, is if she could find a way to turn the public opinion against Vale.

It would happen, eventually.

So in these last few times of peace, she should finish what she started.

Time for her to find a way out.

Inker met Vale again and tried asking her to explain why she chose to train him and Victoria, but instead Vale simply said.

"Find Victoria and Lynn, then come meet me by the kettle."

Inker complied, he took Victoria and Lynn to Vale, and the four left the lair.

* * *

Vale led them away from the Undercity, until they reached a cliff overlooking a lake.

"What is this place?" Inker wondered

"Lake Gorgon, the largest underground lake discovered by Octarian kind, it was a popular attraction decades ago, when it was first discovered."

Vale then pointed to a stream where water seemed to be pouring in.

"The streams in Octo Canyon lead here. We shouldn't be too far from the Octarian reserve army…"

Vale stood up and turned to Inker.

"Now I believe you had a question."

Inker had much more than one by now.

"Oh right, I wanted to ask you why you chose to train me and Victoria instead of your own soldiers. I mean, wouldn't you be much more familiar with them?"

"Of course I would, in fact I am. That how I knew none of them would be fit for this task which I am about to give you."

"What?"

Vale looked at the lake, then back to Inker, Victoria and Lynn.

She walked up to Lynn first.

"Lynn Radars, you've spent two years in my splatoon. You've never disobeyed orders, never stepped out of line, yet you still questioned my command."

"S-sorry captain."

Vale laughed "No need to apologize, after all, it's thanks to you that I stand here today."

"A-ahh I'm flattered… Thank you captain."

"No I should thank you. You who originally couldn't do anything on your own, ended up being the one to make an alliance with the New Squidbeak Splatoon and Agent 3. You were the one who gave me the chance to meet Victoria Holter."

This was Captain Vale's way of answering Inker's question.

Vale turned to Victoria.

"The last time I saw Maria Holter, she had just decided to retire to take care of her newborn daughter, Victoria. I was still a young Octoling at the time, but already a soldier. Maria helped me through quite a lot during the Salmonid war, so imagine my surprise when I learned that an Octoling named Victoria Holter got stuck in Inkopolis."

"You knew about that too huh. You keep mentioning my mother, but you never really go into detail about it." Victoria said

"Maybe someday you'll find out. After all, I have high expectations of you, your ability to adapt, think on your feet and take the initiative is quite something, your mother would have been proud. I can say for sure that you'll go far."

Finally, Vale spoke to Inker.

"Inker, that name still feels real strange to me so I've been calling you Agent 3 instead."

"It's fine, Octarians and Inklings have a very different naming sense."

"That's not all that is different, everything from our biology to the way we speak is different. It's only natural for two races this different to have trouble getting along, yet despite our history someone like you shows up, who thinks that by some miracle you can reunite these two races. I brushed it off as naivety at first, but now I think that sort of idealism isn't as dumb as it may seem."

"Uhh… Thanks?"

"Haha right, that's not really a compliment is it? Well then let me continue, at first you were a target, that was all the way back at Melanin prison, because of that I was suspicious when you came to my rescue, but then time and time again,I heard reports of you risking your life to save Octarians that were once your enemies. Frankly put, you know what you believe in and you will stand for it no matter what others may say."

Vale took a step back and looked at all three cephalopods.

"And that, is why I chose you three over everyone else."

Inker, Victoria and Lynn nodded in understanding.

"But wait, what is this task you mentioned earlier?" Inker asked

"Why aren't you full of questions? Simple, I was referring to the task of leadership."

"Huh?!" Inker, Lynn and Victoria exclaimed.

They didn't know what Vale meant, yet it was unbelievably obvious.

"I know I can't lead anymore, not after all those years I spent as an Elite Octoling."

This is what Vale realized upon hearing the Inkantation again.

"At first it was just a few problems with trusting Inklings, but that changed when I turned on Octavio."

Trust was important, Vale knew this.

"I just can't do it, no matter what I always seem to slip right back into his hands."

But what happens when you can't trust yourself?

"That's when I realized I had become my own enemy."

This was the way out she had envisioned.

"In order for our little revolution to succeed, I have to remove myself from power. The rest lies in your hands."

"No, wait. Vale you don't need to do that."

"No need to keep calling me Vale, or captain, my first name is Emily."

"Emily, the Calamari Inkantation will-"

"Will what, Inker? I've heard it plenty of times before, but I still find myself falling into Octavio's clutches. It might free the average Octarian, but the Elite Octolings are beyond saving, that includes me."

In fact, Vale could feel the regret coming, the urge to not follow through on her plans now that she wasn't listening to the Inkantation anymore.

Lynn realized what the her captain was about to do.

"Nooo! Captain! Don't leave us!"

On instinct, Lynn grabbed Vale and held her tight.

"Lynn, you've been calling me captain all this time, but I lost that rank months ago."

"It doesn't matter! You are my captain, everyone looks up to you and trusts you!"

"Yes and I can't betray their trust, I need to do what's best for them. Therefore I must go and you must take my place."

"W-what? But that's too much! Take your place? I can't!"

"You can and eventually you will, even if not right away. That's what I've been preparing the three of you for."

Victoria and Inker still didn't realize what Lynn already had, but Victoria knew that Vale was saying goodbye.

"Captain Vale, no Emily. I heard a lot about you when I was in the army. When I heard that you were the one who had turned on Octavia, I thought for sure you would succeed, I guess I was wrong."

"We can't always be right, but that doesn't mean we should stop trying. You should return and take charge of the others, you've done it once already, you can do it again."

Victoria nodded and Vale took that as the sign of her accepting command of her splatoon.

Everything was now in place.

Vale pushed a teary eyed Lynn off her.

"Well then, Victoria, Lynn, Inker, I'll help out if I can, but for now I leave the rest to you."

With that she took one step back, removed her goggles and saluted the three..

'_They will probably be shocked, but from what I've seen they'll recover before the Octarian army does. I trust them, after all they are the next generation of soldiers.'_

She had to complete one last step before Octavio took ahold of her again.

That's when Inker and Victoria finally realized what Vale had been planning to do.

"No wait!" they shouted, but Vale leapt into the air and off the cliff, diving into the waters below.

'_In Octo Valley there is an unspoken rule, __the strong will live on, the weak will perish, and the fate of the broken are in the hands of whoever broke them'_

Vale remembered the saying that she once believed.

'_I don't know how that started, but it's wrong. There is no rule, everyone has a choice, I was once strong, then I became weak, finally I realized was broken. But i'm not leaving my fate to DJ Octavio. I'll leave on my own accord!'_

To someone who believed that trust was most important, this was the only way out when you could no longer trust yourself.

_`I've always wondered what swimming was like….'_

The 35 year old former Octarian captain, Emily Vale, landed in the freshwater lake Gorgon.

There was a burst of black ink followed by ripples in the water, finally a set of Octoling armor, which was once proudly worn against the forces of Inkopolis and Salmonids, floated to the surface..

Back on the cliff, Lynn was in tears, while Inker and Victoria stood, dumbstruck at what had just happened.

Did former captain and Elite Octoling, Emily Vale, the hero of Ark Polaris, just take her own life?

There was no way an Octoling could survive in water like that.

All that she left behind, was a pair of Octoling goggles, which Lynn now held protectively against her chest.

Captain Vale was gone….

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

* * *

**The Molluscs of Mercy Orphanage, Inkopolis**

It was late in the night.

Though everyone should be asleep at this time, Lila found herself answering nature's call.

In other words she drank too much juice before bedtime.

Looking out the window, Lila wondered how Kal and his friends were doing.

It had been weeks since she last heard from him after all.

As Lila teetered from the washroom back to her bed she bumped into something.

"Oh sorry I couldn't sleep." Lila said, thinking it was one of the staff.

Instead she found herself looking at a familiar face.

Some she was once afraid of, but recently learned to trust.

"Emily?!" Lila exclaimed

"Shhh, keep it down, let's try not to wake the others."

Lila couldn't believe it

What was the captain of the guard doing here?

"Umm Emily, shouldn't you be in Octo Valley? If you are here, then did something happen?"

"Yes something did happen, but don't worry, your friend Kal is safe."

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm here for you."

Lila was more confused then ever.

"W-what do you need me for?"

"For revenge, revenge against DJ Octavio, Acting Leader Octavia and all the Elite Octolings!"

"W-w-what?!"

Emily was looking for her? To get revenge?

"No I'm not going back to Octo Valley, it's not a good place."

"Yes you are right, but we can make it a better place, for you, for me and the entire Octarian race."

"No, I don't want to!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes!"

"I don't think you are being true to yourself. Think about Lila, we aren't so different you and I. We've both lost those we hold dear to Octo Valley, it's only right to be angry."

"Well I am, a little, but anger isn't everything."

"Is it not? Anger is only the natural reaction to loss and we have experienced loss over and over again! We had it all once, our lives were perfect, then Octavia came and ruined everything! I lost my career! My soldiers! I was broken just as you were when Octavia brainwashed you and made you kill your family!"

"Ahhh…"

"Now now, don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you, yes I'm not the one who is going to hurt you if you do nothing."

Lila found herself embraced by this shadowy Octarian, she was a bit scared, but she was also feeling… compassion?

Somehow Lila understood what Emily felt.

"You say anger isn't everything, but in the bottom of your head you know the truth, you were broken, you had everything good about your life taken from you! You and I, we are the same, we have nothing! But our anger! Come with me Lila, together we'll start our own crusade we'll get back at Octavia and every other Elite Octoling."

Lila realized Emily Vale was offering her a hand, then she noticed she was kneeling on the floor.

She had long accepted the loss of her family, so why did remembering all that make her collapse?

Emily's words resonated with Lila and she found herself taking Emily's hand….

The next day, Lila Fields was reported missing.


	40. All Out

**Octo Valley**

Inker, Victoria and Lynn trudged back to the lair Vale once directed.

None of them really knew what happened, why did Vale suddenly put them through so much training then throw herself into a lake?

She said something about leaving the rest to them, which would have made sense, but why throw her life away right after?

While all three of them were in low spirits, neither of them felt as much grief as Lynn.

Inker and Victoria tried to talk to Lynn, but she kept a blank expression and walked on.

Captain Vale had tossed away her Octoling goggles before her dive, which Lynn now held protectively against her chest and wouldn't let go.

Perhaps because Lynn spent the most time with Vale out of the three, Lynn had noticed what Vale was planning, but she didn't do anything to stop her nor did she tell Inker or Victoria.

She said nothing to either of them on the way back.

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

News travelled quickly when you lived in a cramped underground lair.

Elizza and much of the other Octarians knew that Captain Vale left with Inker and the others, but she didn't return.

In addition there was a devastated looking Lynn.

It wasn't hard to guess what happened.

Of course, that didn't stop Eliza from angrily hoisting Inker up by the collar and pinning him to the wall..

"What did you do!?"

Pinned to the wall, Inker lifted his feet and pushed them into Eliza's midriff effectively sending her stumbling back.

For a moment Inker was surprised, he had practiced such moves with Vale in the weeks of hard training, but he thought that Vale was purposely throwing herself, now that he had done it for real, he was surprised that it worked this well.

Worked well as it got Eliza off him, but it didn't calm her down in the slightest. She raised her Octoshot against Inker for the first time in a while.

Now that Captain Vale was gone, Eliza's grudge was beginning to resurface.

"So you've shown your true colours huh!"

"Why are you mad at me? I didn't do anything!"

"He's right." Lynn cut in "Neither of us did anything, but it's my fault precisely because I did nothing."

Eliza looked at Lynn, then wordlessly lowered her weapon.

"What are we supposed to tell the others?"

Nobody present knew what to reply to that.

After all if Eliza could immediately guess that Emily Vale was dead, then anyone else could too.

Inker, being earnest, would have suggested that they just tell the truth, but after his recent training with Vale, Victoria and Lynn, he understood that things aren't always that simple.

Seeing their current situation, Lynn turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Victoria asked

"I'm going back to the army. Maybe Octavia will go easy on me if I confess everything…"

"What? You can't! Hey don't just silently walk away! Come on Eliza help me stop her!" Victoria turned to Eliza for help, but Eliza wasn't moving.

"To be honest, I was thinking the same thing…"

"You too?"

"What else can we do? The only reason we are here was because we trusted our captain, now that she's gone, what else is there for us to do?" Eliza explained

Victoria and Inker exchanged glances

They had underestimated the influence that Captain Vale had.

"Can I just confirm one thing? You saw our captain die, right?" Eliza asked

Inker and Victoria wordlessly nodded.

In response Eliza lowered her head in grief.

"I'm going to tell the others."

And so Eliza left Inker and Victoria puzzled as to how to continue.

Behind them was Lynn, who had just left the lair, in front of them was Eliza and the other Octarains loyal to Vale, who would likely follow suit and give themselves up.

What was the best course of action here?

"Should I uhh, go bring Lynn back?" Inker asked

Victoria shrugged "What was Emily thinking? I thought she had everything planned out, why would she suddenly splat herself and abandon everything? Maybe she couldn't plan anymore and didn't want to see things fall apart?"

"That's probably what Lynn thinks." Inker replied

"Doesn't mean that it's right though."

"Are you sure? I think Lynn knows the captain the best out of us."

"I know that but, well….. I guess I hate losing so I don't want it to be true." Victoria admitted

She wondered what was left in store for her.

She couldn't go back to the Octarian army, unlike Lynn she didn't believe Octavia would ever forgive them.

Maybe Lynn was giving up on her life just as Vale did.

Kal was still around, Victoria wondered if she could just live with him in Inkopolis, she wasn't against the idea and honestly kinda looked forward to it. But Octavia running the show in Octo Valley would leave a bad taste in her mouth.

Not to mention Violet and all those innocent Octarians who Octavia condemned simply for being acquainted with someone from Vale's splatoon.

If she returned to Inkopolis, she would be abandoning them all here.

Inker was thinking the same things.

"We can't just go back to Inkopolis now, can we?"

"We could…"

They both stood around, neither of them made a move.

"..."

"..."

"Uhhh.. I should probably go get Lynn before she gets too far." Victoria suggested.

"Yeah you do that…"

However, before Victoria could chase after Lynn, Kal showed up.

"There you are! Why are you two just standing by the kettle? You know Eliza is saying that Captain Vale is dead and now everyone is worried sick. Just what is going on?"

"I'm not sure." Victoria said.

"Did you run into the Octarian army or something? What happened to Vale and Lynn?"

"Vale took us away to say goodbye, then she… threw herself off a cliff… and into a lake. Lynn just gave up after returning and left to surrender to Octavia."

"Wait what? We have to stop her!"

"What's the point? I didn't realize it before, but Vale really was the only thing holding everyone here together. Now that she's gone, what are we supposed to do?"

"... If you don't know, I wouldn't either, but come on! Don't just give up! Victoria, aren't you the one who wanted to make Octo Valley a place to call home? What about you Inker? You used to be far more positive in the past. Are you both giving up this easily?"

"..."

"..."

Everyone had changed alot in the past few months.

"I only thought that I could make Octo Valley a better place because Captain Vale would be leading me. I know I always say I'm going to become the perfect soldier, but I can't keep this up with just myself." Victoria said

"I was more positive in the past? Did i really change that much? Well to be honest I didn't think much of this at first, when Cuttlefish made me Agent 3 I thought of everything like a game, but as it went on I began to see just how wrong that mindset was." Inker said.

"So then that's it? We are all just giving up and heading back to Inkopolis? And after everything we've done in these past few months?" Kal asked.

"... it's not like I want to just leave, but right now I really don't know what to do." Inker replied

"Are you trying to do everything on your own again? How about this, if you aren't sure what to do, then maybe try and discuss with the rest of Vale's splatoon." Kal suggested.

Inker and Victoria exchanged glances.

Maybe because Kal never really got to know Captain Vale that well, he didn't seem affected by her death.

Plus what he was suggesting was worth a shot.

"Alright then, I'll go find Lynn." Inker said

"I'll go too." Victoria added

"No I think it would be better if you stayed. There is no telling what Eliza and the other might do in our absence. Besides, I think you will understand them better than us." Kal suggested

"Yeah that works too, leave it to me."

* * *

**Octo Valley**

Lynn stumbled through the valley, dragging her feet along as she walked.

Sure in Octo Valley, accidents happen everyday and everyone should be used to loss, but Lynn just couldn't get used to it.

It would have been fine if it was someone she didn't know, but it seemed like everytime she really opened up to someone they would die.

Madison, Claire, her own mother and finally the captain.

The captain mentioned letting Lynn take her place, but Lynn refused.

Even though everyone she knew had been encouraging her to make her own choices, it wasn't that easy.

Not because it was difficult, but because it was scary.

If you listen to someone trustworthy, like a well accomplished captain, you can be sure that you are doing the right thing.

But if you were just a lowly Octoling of low rank, nothing is certain.

Lynn hoped that she could be mixed back into the Octarian army. Yet she knew the chances of that happening was low.

Octavia would likely have her executed as soon as possible.

Still, turning herself in now was better than staying and making what was only likely become certain.

Lynn felt her tentacles jerk backwards.

She sighed, this was why she always tied them up in a ponytail, they just wouldn't sit still.

Having hair with a mind of its own was sometimes troublesome.

But if they were this feisty then they would probably make great Octotroopers someday.

Still, they wouldn't stop moving now.

Lynn wondered why.

Was there someone behind her?

No longer caring about who it could be, Lynn turned around and saw Inekr in the distance.

'_Is he trying to bring me back?' _She wondered.

Lynn stopped and waited for Inker to catch up.

He was lucky that Lynn was walking so slowly and wasn't even half way to the Undercity yet.

"What is it?" Lynn asked when Inker caught up.

"Come back to the lair."

"Why?"

To Lynn without Captain Vale there was no chance of winning.

Inker felt the same, unlike the New Squidbeak Splatoon, which could probably go on without Cuttlefish, Vale's splatoon was too different.

But how could he convince Lynn to come back?

He couldn't possibly just say 'Kal said so' and forcefully drag her back.

Lynn would probably only listen to Vale anyways/

'_That's it.'_

"You can't just leave everything behind just because Captain Vale is gone."

"You still don't get it, without her there is nothing."

"Yes there is, didn't Vale say that you would lead that splatoon eventually? The same splatoon that is still hanging back at the lair wondering what to do?"

"How am I supposed to replace the captain?"

"You don't have to replace her, just make sure she isn't forgotten by keeping her revolution going, or better yet immortalize her in history by winning."

Lynn didn't think about that.

She had been so dazed by Vale's sudden suicide that she wasn't thinking straight.

"That does sound better than giving up…"

"Yeah that's the spirit! Come on, let's get back before someone sees us."

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

During the time when Inker left to find Lynn, the rest of the splatoon wasn't in any better shape.

Kal and Victoria found that Vale's splatoon had been divided.

Some argued that they should keep on fighting and that maybe they could bring down Octavia without the captain, others believed that the best thing to do now was run for their lives.

There were a few who shared Lynn's mindset and wanted to give themselves up to Octavia.

In fact, Eliza was even holding one such Octoling at gunpoint, even though they couldn't actually splat each other.

They never saw a more disorganized sight.

"Come on now, it's not the end of the world just cause the captain is gone."

"Yeah, knowing her this was all part of her plan and we are meant to push forward!"

"Are you stupid? Who in the world would plan their own death?"

"Without the captain all we can do is run! We've gotten friendly with some Inklings right? I bet the captain planned for us to escape to Inkopolis!"

"No way! The captain would never suggest that! We should escape to somewhere uninhabited by Octarians."

"That is way too much effort, there is no point in continuing without the captain, let's just give up and return to the undercity."

The soldiers were arguing, then some started to get violent, soon many of them were busy fighting among themselves, while some more level headed ones tried to calm them down, as for the refugees, they watched in shock.

"Violet! What is going on there?" Asked one little Octoling boy

"Now now Daniel, it's best that you don't see things like that at your age." Violet said, covering the boy's eyes.

The lair was in chaos.

Kal got a glimpse of Sky slipping out of the commotion and joining Violet and the Octarian refugees off to the side.

Meanwhile he and Victoria had shown up to try and discuss their course of action with the whole splatoon, but seeing how they were divided they were stopped dead in their tracks.

Then finally, Inker returned with Lynn.

They went unnoticed for a while but then Eliza caught sight of her ponytailed sister in arms.

She shouted as loud as she could.

"Hey Lynn is back! She should have some idea what to do!"

This prompted a variety of responses.

"Lynn? What's she going to do?"

"Lynn's pretty much the captain's right hand you dolt."

"If we follow the chain of command, shouldn't everything fall on Lynn?"

"What chain of command? I thought we forgot about that once we separated from the army."

"Doesn't Lynn just run around delivering orders and gathering reports?"

"Yeah she's the adjutant."

"Sounds more like a secretary to me."

"Still she did get trained by the captain herself, she's pretty much her successor."

"I still don't get it? Who's Lynn? Oh the ponytail, I know now."

Lynn wanted to retort to that last one, she could accept the comments on her being a secretary for the captain, but she did not accept being known only by her ponytail, she had much more traits than that.

But she fell silent when she realized that the soldiers were calming down and directing their attention to her.

'_Eliza! Why did you have to bring me so much attention!?'_

Under overwhelming pressure from so many gazes cast her way, Lynn frantically looked around for help.

"I…. uhhh…"

With no one jumping to her aid, Lynn tried her best.

"Umm…. We can't just give up now that the captain is gone." Lynn stammered

"We know that! That's why we should leave Octo Valley!" Someone shouted

"No! We should stay here!"

And they began to argue again.

"I'm beginning to think this is hopeless…" Inker muttered

Lynn took a breath and tried again.

"U-ummm guys, guys! We can't keep fighting among ourselves! The captain always planned ahead, so it should be expected that this was planned to!"

"What? The captain planned to off herself? That can't be." One Octoling commented

"It is! I was the only one who realized it and plead for her not to do it, but she still went through with it after saying that she'd leave the rest to us."

"That ain't right! The captain always tried to avoid casualties! This is clearly the work of Octavio affecting her!" Another Octarian shouted

"No! The captain did it out of concern for us!" came a counter argument from an Octoball

"U-ummm, the captain said that I should take over eventually, so maybe now-"

"Yeah eventually! But we won't get there if we stay and get hunted down!" shouted another Octoling.

This was going nowhere.

"Alright enough of that! Vale clearly trusted Lynn and the rest of you aren't helping!" Victoria shouted

"Easy for you to say, new girl!"

"So what if i'm the newest one here? From what I've seen everyone who is even thinking of running away completely goes against what Captain Vale stood for! Didn't Vale choose to remain in Octo Valley after nearly being executed!? Vale always said trust was important, but now you plan on running away the moment she's gone? So basically you didn't trust her careful planning from the start? Is that what you are saying?"

There were some murmurs of 'see that's why I said we should stay' and 'I told you so' among the troops.

"So it's decided, we are going nowhere until we are done with Octavia!"

Well for now Victoria managed to quiet down those annoying Octarians who kept interrupting Lynn, so she stepped aside and let Lynn continue.

"Hey where are you going?" Someone shouted

"I got you all to shut up didn't I? The rest is up to Lynn now."

"Forget Lynn, clearly you know what you're doing."

"The captain trained you didn't she?"

"Yeah! Lynn was always more of a follower than a leader anyways."

This made Victoria shrink in embarrassment.

She quickly thought up an excuse "I…. I can't just take Lynn's place."

"No I think you should." Lynn said

Victoria looked to Lynn in confusion.

This was the splatoon Lynn worked with since the start of her career, so Victoria felt that it was only right for Lynn to take command.

Lynn however thought differently.

She believed it was better to follow someone who knew what they were doing.

While Victoria might not have shown that before, she did know what to say in order to shut those rowdy soldiers up.

Plus Victoria did lead a small group of them once before.

"Like they said, I'm more of a follower anyways, you take charge." Lynn said

"There you go! Victoria is the new captain!" Eliza shouted from the crowd

"Wait what? I never sai-" Victoria began, but she was cut off.

"Captain Holter!" Somebody yelled

Victoria recognised that voice, what was he thinking shouting like that?

Cries of "Captain Holter" began to fill the lair.

Victoria did somewhat enjoy being called that, but now all the pressure that was on Lynn now transferred over to Victoria, then multiplied.

Now standing in cold sweat before the splatoon, Victoria wasn't sure how to proceed.

She returned to Octo Valley hoping to make it a better place under Captain Vale's leadership.

Yet now Vale was dead and she had dozens of Octarians adding "Captain" to her family name "Holter".

It was so much pressure for Victoria, she felt as if she was being crushed into diamonds.

'_What should I do?' Victoria wondered 'What would Vale have done?'_

"Alright fine! I'll lead, go back to whatever the late and great Captain Vale assigned you to do! If you have nothing then practice, we'll head to the Undercity soon!" Victoria shouted

Though she wasn't sure what she was going to do at the Undercity, she only mentioned it to buy herself time.

Yet the majority of the splatoon seemed assured by this.

"The captain would have said something similar." one Octotrooper mentioned

"Well she did train Holter personally." Another said

"Hey you know, I think I overheard the captain asking about her way back before Agent 3 joined up with us." One Octoling said.

"Really? Well at least it isn't Agent 3 leading us." Eliza added

"Didn't the captain also train Agent 3 during the past month?"

"That was probably to make sure the Inklings don't get in our way."

"Ahh I see, the captain was so clever."

"I hope Captain Holter lives up to her expectations."

"I don't see that happening, didn't she get herself lost during her first mission?"

During this time Victoria slipped away.

The Octarians kept discussing this turn of events.

It was unofficially decided that Victoria would lead the splatoon with Lynn acting as an adjutant just as she did with Vale before.

Though some Octarians didn't think Victoria could actually lead them, they simply didn't see any better choice at the moment.

Victoria retreated to her bunk, but she still felt exposed as each room was shared by multiple creatures, so she left.

Perhaps it was because she was called "captain" so many times, Victoria found herself sitting in Vale's office.

Nobody would bother her here right?

She sighed and buried her face in her hands.

Why did she agree to lead the splatoon? Was it peer pressure from all those Octarians?

How was she supposed to beat the Octarian army with only one splatoon of regular army units and a handful of refugees?

Victoria felt like pulling her hair out, it was so much pressure for one Octoling.

Just as she thought nobody would bother her, someone entered the room.

"Hey…" Kal poked his head in the office.

'_Well, at least it was him.'_ Victoria thought

Kal entered and shut the door behind him.

"So, things went pretty well huh?" Kal said with a smile

"Well? Things couldn't have been worse!" Victoria shouted

She knew this was rude, but Kal had seen her lose it before so she assumed it was fine.

Yet Kal seemed surprised.

"Uhhh, is there something wrong?"

Victoria sighed again, Kal never seemed to understand these kinds of things.

"You bet there is! First of all, why did you have to shout my name like that?!"

Victoria knew that it was Kalus who shouted "Captain Holter" which then led to everyone else following suit.

"I...I thought you would have wanted this."

"What? No! I thought you knew me better than this Kal!"

"Oh…." Kal said with a dejected look "Sorry I thought that.. Well… You once told me that you became a soldier because Octo Valley wasn't safe. I assumed that if you were to take command of a splatoon, you might be able to make Octo Valley a better place just like you wanted."

It was hard to stay mad at Kal when he had such an innocent reasoning.

Victoria admitted that Kal was right "I do want to make Octo Valley a better place, but I'm not Captain Vale!"

"Gee I don't know, everyone seems intent on calling you captain from now." Kal joked

"Oh please, I never even took an officer's course. I was only a Trooper and not even a Corporal."

"Oh? But you gotta admit, 'Captain Holter' sounds way better than 'Corporal Holter' real fresh, you know what I'm saying?"

"Oh stop it, those ranks aren't supposed to be for show you know."

"But you do like being called Captain."

Victoria smiled "Oh yes, definitely."

"Hey this means you outrank your mother right?"

Victoria sighed at the mention of Maria Holter.

"Seriously? Mentioning my mother at a time like this? There are better things you could have said to me, you know?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Victoria suddenly realized she let her thoughts slip, "Oh nothing, you are right mother was a first lieutenant, so basically I've just hopped over her, yeah it does feel good even though the rank is unofficial."

Victoria decided to steer the conversation back to more important matters, now wasn't the time for personal feelings, it was time to be rational.

"As much as I enjoy the title, how am I supposed to live up to it? I mean, can I really lead a splatoon?"

"I don't know." Kal shrugged

Victoria glared at him, disappointed.

'_Maybe I shouldn't have asked him'_ Victoria thought

But then Kal continued "But well, from what you've said before about how everyone tries to do their part or how the dangers of Octo Valley inspired everyone to become soldiers, it makes me think that you really understand your people. So after seeing you get through to all those Octarians, I thought that well, you would know what to do with them… or something…"

Kal didn't have a wide vocabulary that's for sure, but what he said did make some sense.

If Victoria could show that she understood how the rest of Octo Valley felt, perhaps the other Octarians would resonate with her and choose her over Octavia.

Victoria was once again reminded that Kal wasn't the type to play hero, yet he still came through when it mattered.

"I get it." Victoria said.

"You do? Great! Everyone's counting on you, but we are here to help if you need us!" Kal cheered her on.

"Really? Well then can you go find Inker for me?"

"Huh?" Kal exclaimed

"Inker, I need him to help me out with this next part, oh and Lynn as well."

"What about me?" Kal asked, hopefully.

"Sorry but I just don't think this is for you."

"Ohh… Well that's fine, I'll go get Inker and Lynn for you!"

Kal left feeling somewhat sad.

As for Victoria she felt that Kal had done more than enough.

Kalus was a civilian after all, he didn't belong here.

Yet Kal had helped Victoria many times before, but that only made Victoria feel that it wasn't right to drag him into what was coming up.

No, she needed the support of Inker's combat skill, Lynn's knowledge of the splatoon's members and each of their roles and strengths and finally the splatoon itself.

Kal had given her an idea and that was already more than enough contribution from him.

Earlier she tried to mimic Captain Vale when making up an excuse to leave, but that wasn't right.

'_No, if Vale wanted a carbon copy of her to take her place, she would have trained anyone else rather than me.'_

'_Yes, she might have taught me a few things, but not because she wants me to be just like her. She wants me to learn from her and do things better'_ Victoria concluded.

Vale had explained that trust was important, but there was something else she emphasized during their strategy lessons.

Always aim for a killing blow, better to end a fight fast than prolong it, if an enemy shows weakness use it, if a gap opens up in their lines throw yourself into it.

Victoria could see how Vale put that idea to fruition, like when she brought the legitimacy of Octavia to question with her hijacking of the Octo Valley News Bulletin.

But she only brought things into question and ruined the trust that Octo Valley had in Octavia and Octavio.

Victoria however would do things differently.

She would aim for a killing blow.

* * *

Kal lay in his bunk, troubled.

He had brought Inker and Lynn to Victoria like she wanted, but he still felt unnerved.

Why did it feel like Victoria was distancing herself from him? And why did it bother him so much?

All she did was make a logical decision, that was normal for Victoria, who would think practical unless she lost her temper.

"Ahh this doesn't feel right!"

"Ahhh! Don't scare me like that!"

"Oh sorry Sky."

Kal had forgotten that Sky was in the room as well, once again going over his notes.

Kal sighed "I'm beginning to feel useless…"

"You're really saying that in front of me? Who has done nothing but study since getting here?" Sky replied

"Oh right, but still at least you are doing something meaningful, I'm just sitting around, cheering everyone else on."

"So that's bothering you..."

"Yes! Why does Victoria need Inker's help more than mine? What can he do that I can't?"

"Defeat DJ Octavio and the Great Octoweapons singlehandedly."

"Right, bad example, I should have said Lynn…"

"You know it almost sounds like you are jealous…" Sky mused

"I'm not, I just don't want to be left out." Kal replied

"I'm not about to join Neon in "shipping" or whatever she calls it, but do you only feel jealous because Victoria is involved?"

"I'm not jealous! Stop asking me questions!"

"I only asked one…"

Nothing seemed to get past Sky, so Kal quickly changed the subject.

"Speaking about Neon. Did something happen with the two of you? Why did she go and spend so much money on supplies?"

"I just called her out on her stupid behavior."

"Oh, so nothing out of the ordinary."

"You know me, I always saw Neon as just such a troublesome girl."

"Hey at least she's fun to hang out with, well when she's not telling me to date Victoria so she can have a guideline to romance."

"I'm just somewhat worried about how much she spent on all that food."

"Ahh, so even though you complain about her the most, you still worry about her, is that what you call being coy?"

"That has several meanings. I'm just a little bit worried because we've known her for a while now."

"Oh."

* * *

**OVNB Studios, Octo Valley**

Captain Vale had forced her way into the studio before, since the result was so catastrophic Octavia had the place guarded and made sure it's news anchors kept sending out messages condemning the captain and her renegades.

Today it had a special message to broadcast however.

Because The Octarian Reserve Army at Octo Canyon had found the remains of Captain Vale in a lake.

Plus the renegade Octarians had been quiet for a long time, giving the Octarian army to reorganize and deal with the rioting Octarians.

This was great news for Octavia, so she relaxed the guards on the studios to take back the streets of the Undercity, while Octo Valley's two celebrities : Koya and Taki helped spread Octavia's words.

"Good evening citizens! It's Taki here with Koya too! We got some spicy news for you all so sit tight!"

Octavia was previously worried about letting loose the entire army on Captain Vale because of the reputation she had, that's why she had tried to burden her with refugees and starve her splatoon into raiding the Undercity, she needed Vale's reputation as the Hero of Ark Polaris gone.

But now that Vale herself was gone, it was great news.

There was no more figurehead for Vale's pointless rebellion.

"Our selfless reserve army has discovered the remains of the traitorous former captain Vale in the waters of Lake Gorgon, the death of course non accidental, it is clear that the former captain had become overwhelmed with shame and guilt after her previous stunt." a smiling Koya reported.

They didn't actually know why Vale died, but that was what Octavia told them to report, so report it they shall.

"Now, as the army starts cleaning up the mess Vale made, our Acting Leader has had this to say"

Octavia herself stood before a news team at the army's Nautilus base.

She could almost see herself reflected in the camera lenses, standing tall and proud, flanked by her fellow Elite Octolings.

"Proud citizens of Octo Valley! We are safe again, the sickness brought on by the traitorous former captain has been snuffed out. Now the Emily Vale is dead, the organized rebel group she leads will fall into disarray, along with the protests she instigated with her false accusations."

Even though Octavia did barely anything to contribute to Vale's death, she still felt glad.

Because it was Vale who represented the flaws in Octavia's leadership, so since she got herself killed without Octavia interfering it assured Octavia that she alone was right and knew the best way to guide Octo Valley in Octavio's absence.

"Now that our homes are safe once again, we can focus on what really matters. I assure you these next few years will be the most crucial in the development of our race, we will retake our zapfish and help our valley prosper, for none can oppose us!"

This was a great moment for Octavia, she would be able to cement her role once again, now she knew to keep a close eye on the other Elites, what happened to Vale would not happen again. She would remain Octo Valley's leader for years to come.

Or so she thought.

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Though the Undercity a small hooded figure walked, she glanced around nervously.

"Umm, Emily? Where are we going?" Lila whispered to the Octoling she was following.

She never thought she would see Octo Valley again, yet here she was.

And with the captain of the guard of all people.

She still remembered how scary she was the first time she saw her, a tough and strong looking Octoling who looked angry at the mere sight of her.

Who would have expected that scary captain to be so similar to herself?

Now the sight of the once powerful captain was gone, instead it was the sight of someone who looked tired and even using a walking stick.

"With the Octarian army spread thin to calm down the protesting Octarians we should be able to move around the Undercity unseen, stay close to me."

Lila nodded and did exactly what Vale said.

She wasn't sure why the captain needed her help, wasn't she already working with Kal and Agent 3?

"You're the only one I can trust on this." Vale had said to her before.

Lila tried to inquire why, but Vale simply said things like "I understand you better than anyone else, so I trust you more than I trust myself."

She couldn't seem to figure out why Vale needed her so badly.

Suddenly Vale came to a stop and looked towards a familiar pony tailed Octoling across the street.

The Octoling didn't seem to notice Vale, instead she seemed to wander aimlessly before disappearing around a corner.

"So it has begun, as I thought they have things under control…." Vale muttered

"Hmm? What's that? Do you know that Octoling?"

"Yes I do, I know her well."

"Should we go talk to her?"

"No, we keep moving."

Lila was more confused than ever.

She followed Vale into an abandoned building, though she hesitated to go in.

"Umm, that looks a bit dangerous."

"Don't worry, I've seen worse, this looks to be recently cordoned so it should be study enough for us."

They made their way to the top of the abandoned building.

"Come Lila, look down there, can you see those Octarians waving their tentacles and shouting?"

From their vantage point they could see one of the many protests going on in Octo Valley.

There was a considerable amount of soldiers there too, trying to calm down the protesters, two Elite Octolings seemed to be guiding them.

"Captain Vale is dead! There is no reason to believe anything she might have said about our Acting Leader, please calm down!" the Elite Octolings shouted using megaphones.

Now Lila couldn't possibly be more confused.

"Emily? They are talking about you? You are dead?"

"In a way, yes."

Vale then lifted the walking stick she was using.

"Hey that's… uhh." Lila remembered seeing the object before but she couldn't remember what it was called.

"Yes, I swiped it from Cuttlefish on our way down here."

It seemed like Vale didn't know what it was called either.

But one thing was clear, it was a weapon and a decently ranged one at that.

"I doubt this can outrange an Octosniper, however we have the high ground so it shouldn't matter."

Even though she seemed unfamiliar with the weapon, Vale seemed to be taking aim at someone in the distance.

"I'll be honest, I took the money you had and tried to buy a better sniper weapon from Inkopolis, but they wouldn't let me, saying ridiculous things about freshness and levels."

There was so much to question in what Vale just said.

'_How did you hide the fact that your an Octoling? Why did they let you in the weapon shop? How did I not notice you taking money out of my pocket? Why do you need to take an 11 year old's allowance?'_ But instead Lila just watched and Vale steaded her breath and fired several times.

Lila could see the Octarian soldiers scramble after Vale fired four shots rapidly at the two Elite Octolings.

"We are done here, moving on."

Lila still questioned why the captain needed her here, but for now she just followed her.

They were going to make a difference after all.

* * *

Victoria once led Eliza and a few others to the Undercity to gather intel on the Octarian army's movements.

Following the success of that operation Victoria decided to combine what she did with what was possibly Vale's last successful mission before she became distracted.

Inker, Eliza, Victoria, Lynn and dozens of other combat ready Octarians split up and entered the Undercity from every direction.

The army was too busy dealing with more violent protesters to properly inspect them.

They all met up at the same studio they raided before.

This time however, they aren't just going to send a message and dash.

'_Like Vale said, aim for a killing blow.'_ Victoria assured herself that the reason Vale didn't do what she was about to was because of Octavio's influence over her.

Vale only planted the seeds of distrust but didn't tend to them any further.

Victoria would not do the same.

"This is Lynn, my squad has regrouped and we are in position."

"Eliza here, we have reached the final waypoint and are in position."

"3 checking in, managed to avoid the Octarians so far, I'm on the roof of the studio waiting for your signal."

"Go now." Victoria ordered.

The OVNB studio was broken into for a second time.

Taki, Koya and the rest of the employees were tied up and tossed into a closet this time.

They were not going to interfere.

Because Victoria was going to stay here longer than Vale did.

Since Lynn had worked the machines here back when Vale broadcast her message, she was able to interrupt Octavia's speech.

In the midst of proclaiming that nobody could oppose her, the sight of Octavia was replaced by a normal looking Octoling.

Sure Victoria was a nobody, but that didn't matter.

Today she would leave her mark in history.

"Don't listen to the lies of the state run media!" Victoria started "Vale's death means nothing!"

Discarding her normal way of speaking, Victoria gave what would seem to others as a written speech, but it wasn't, it was simply Victoria expressing her view on Octo Valley as an everyday Octoling.

"The Acting Leader might pretend that everything is perfect, but go out and look around you! Gaze upon our Octo Valley, a place battered, bleeding and broken, this is the land we've inherited and it's far from perfect."

The Octarians were indeed used to the poor conditions of Octo Valley, but that does not mean they were fine with it.

Victoria knew that, because it was the very reason why she signed up to join the Octarian army.

She also knew that it was the same reason for many others who enlisted believing that the army was the only way to fix Octo Valley.

"We've spent over a hundred years under the rule of Octavio and his Elite Octolings and nothing has changed! No more of this! I say! I know those of you out in the streets agree with me. Octavia called us an organized rebel group, that was a lie, we were not organized, but now that lie becomes true. I am Victoria Holter, like you I was an Octarian who lived life wishing that we could make our home a better place, now I stand here to create the New Octopolis army!"

Not the most creative name, but fitting in Victoria's mind. Octopolis was the name of the Octarian civilization before the great turf wars began, before DJ Octavio started corrupting the place with his music.

"We will heal our Octo Valley, tend to it's wounds and sow the seeds of a new beginning. But first we must plow the land. Anyone who agrees, come join us now at the OVNB studios."

Finally Victoria's face lowered, with her eyebrows cocked and a killer gaze she gave one last message.

"As for Acting Leader Octavia, yes we are now an organized rebel group, you know where we are, come and get us!"

In a final act of defiance from Octavio's methods, Victoria cut to static instead of fading to black, which was the norm for transitions since DJ Octavio took over.

Then she caught her breath and picked up her Octoshot.

There was going to be a fight soon.

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

Octavia was furious.

One headache was gone only to be replaced by another.

She was supposed to be heard asserting her dominance over Octo Valley, but instead this unknown Octoling hacked the channel and challenged her.

This was not the same as what Vale did, no all Vale did plant a suggestion which bloomed into doubt.

This Victoria Holter, she did something different, she straight up challenged Octavia and the Octarian army in what was supposed to be Octavia's moment of triumph.

"I won't let this stand! Whatever units we have close to the studios send them in at once!" Octavia ordered

"But ma'am, some of the splatoons are reporting that their commanding Elites have been splatted."

"Did I stutter? I don't care if they're going in without proper leadership! Tell whoever is the highest rank there to raze the OVNB studios! And anyone who stands in their way!"

"Y-yes ma'am!"

If this "Victoria Holter" wanted a fight, she was going to get one.

After all, her message made it clear that this was not some peaceful demonstration.

No, this was going to be an all out assault!

* * *

**OVNB studios, Octo Valley**

Only minutes after she spoke, Victoria heard Inker calling her from the roof.

"Victoria? I'm seeing a lot of Octarian saucers coming this way. And I mean ALOT!" Inker said.

Since Inker used blue ink while Victoria and the others all used magenta he had been told to wait on the roof as a lookout.

In his current position, Inker wished Neon was still with them, her scoped E-Liter would have been much better suited for this task.

'_Guess I'm missing the final splatfest… Oh well, I doubt the Squid Sisters will mind.'_

Back inside the studio, Victoria, Lynn, Eliza and the others all prepared themselves, they drenched the studio in their ink and lay hidden in walls and floors, preparing to ambush the incoming army.

They steadied their breathing, lying in wait for the sound of the doors being breached.

However there was a lack of breaching noises, instead it was just Inker calling them again.

"Wait hold on guys something's wrong… I uhh, I think they are here to help?"

Victoria wasn't buying it.

"It could be a trap, if we leave our positions we'll get slaughtered by their numbers." Victoria said.

Her fellow Octarian rebels agreed and stayed put.

Then there was a knocking sound.

"Yo! We come in peace! Don't shoot us the moment we step in alright!"

That voice was familiar to Victoria.

It belonged to someone she hadn't seen in a very long time, someone who outranked her in the army due to his species, yet always seemed like a goofball who loved to chat with low rankers.

Kevin the Octostriker, who Victoria hadn't seen since she used him to get information on Melanin prison.

The big chatterbox stepped into the studios and glanced around, whistling.

"Oh man! You guys really did a number on this place!"

Behind Kevin was several Octosnipers, they were not standing on their platforms and thus unarmed.

Kevin himself was especially vulnerable this close on the ground, his kind were meant to be flying siege weapons.

Since he was here on the ground, Victoria could believe that he was indeed not planning on fighting with them.

At Victoria's signal, she along with Lynn, Eliza and other Octolings rose from the floors and walls.

"Alright big guy, what do you want?"

"Straight to business huh? And here I had so many stories to tell."

Kevin never was the serious type.

He somewhat reminded Victoria of another guy, though Kevin was not as likeable as he was.

"Just tell us why you're here, in case you haven't noticed we are part of the Octarian army anymore."

"Yeah I know that, well we were supposed to be suppressing riots or something while under supervision of the Elites but well, somebody picked them off."

'_Someone else was out there hunting Elite Octolings?'_ Victoria wondered.

"Since I'm second to the Elites I ended up being the one in charge and well, you're right, Octo Valley isn't getting any better under Octavia."

"Will you just get to the point?" Victoria snapped, she knew Kevin loved to talk but now really wasn't the time."

"We were ordered to destroy the studio and anyone else in the way, but from where we stand, you guys are doing more good for the Valley than Octavia. We all signed up to make the valley a better place, so how about it? Are you up for some new recruits?"

Kevin really didn't need to say all that other stuff.

Victoria looked at Kevin, then behind him.

There were many Octosnipers and Octolings behind him, as well as several saucers.

She suddenly felt even more pressure, as now even more Octarians were depending on her.

Still she couldn't turn Kevin down.

Victoria stretched her hand out.

"Welcome to the New Octopolis army."

Back on the roof, Inker was watching the Octarians joining with Victoria.

He ignored the sounds of Cap'n Cuttlefish ranting through the hero headgear, apparently having lost his Bamboozler.

Victoria started off strong, but then again so did Vale.

This time things had to be different.

He never lost someone close to him before, but he had seen it happen to others so many times now that he wished it never happens to him.

"Cap'n? Cap'n! Can you calm down for a moment, I want you to see this."

Over the hero headset, Inker heard Cuttlefish quiet down "Hmmm? Well that's a lot of Octarians, where are you? What's going on?"

Inker sighed, and began to explain everything to the old squid.

Inker wasn't too happy about the idea that another armed conflict was about to start, but Cuttlefish knew better.

Once Inker had explained everything, Cuttlefish started to reassure his agent that he was doing something good.

After all Inker wanted peace between Octarians and Inklings.

The reason why it wasn't possible before, was because of Octavio's old hatreds keeping the Octarians against Inkopolis.

Now that was changing, Victoria had given them something new to hate, Octavio's regime itself.

A civil war was on the horizon, Octarians would fight each other to determine the future of the valley.

If Octavia won, then everything would remain as is, under Octavio's control.

But if Victoria won, then the Octarians' old hatreds may finally come to an end.

* * *

**OCs from Part 8: All Out Assault (Chapters 36-40)**

**Inklings**

**Inker Cetamari**: Blue Inkling boy. The idealistic young member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, Inker was a capable Turf War team player, which caught the eye of Cap'n Cuttlefish. When the Octarians stole the Zapfish, Inker followed the strange veteran out of curiosity and became Agent 3, a fact he had to hide from his freinds at first. Inker is a compassionate individual which led to him seeking peace between Octarians and Inklings once he discovered the poor living conditions in Octo Valley. Due to his role in the New Squidbeak Splatoon, Inker finds it hard to earn the trust of Octarians, though he won't stop trying.

Likes: Turf Wars, helping others, hanging out with his friends.

Dislikes: Pointless conflict

**Kalus Kogia**: Red Inkling boy. More commonly referred to as Kal, he was Agent 3's childhood friend, Kalus also grew up in Inkopolis and thus always had it easy growing up. As such, Kal wants to avoid trouble and have fun.

Like the majority of Inklings, Kalus is unaware of how easy his life is compared to the Octarians in Octo Valley and believes the Octarians are evil by nature, but that changed upon meeting an Octoling named Victoria. Now aware of how miserable Octo Valley is, Kal has become much more compassionate to the Octarians, sharing Agent 3's goal of a peaceful relation between the two races. Although he still wants to avoid trouble, he won't hesitate to take action when things are more dire. He is pretty much your average Inkling, with average turf war skills and average knowledge.

Likes: Inkopolis, Squid Sisters, normal life

Dislikes: Trouble, problems.

**Neon**: Bright green Inkling girl. Born in a country far east, Neon tried many things growing up but could never find her place. That all changed when she had a trip to Inkopolis, discovering a hidden talent for Turf Wars, Neon promptly said goodbye to her family and moved to Inkopolis, where she dominates Turf War matches with precise aim and fast movement. Overtime Neon began to love fighting in general and not just in turf wars, she is more than willing to fight the Octarian army.

Neon is a carefree type who acts on instinct rather than knowledge, she is always full of energy and is very outspoken as she doesn't hesitate to criticize the skill of other Inklings like Kalus and Sky. Despite her cheerful and carefree attitude, Neon is a crack shot with Charger type weapons and could take on entire groups of Octarians using her E-Liter 3K. However despite her usual attitude, Neon secretly harbours feelings of remorse, shame and guilt over the many mistakes she made, often trying to forget about them by simply playing turf wars, such a solution doesn't always work.

Likes: Fighting, chargers, teasing her friends, joking around.

Dislikes: Mind games, lockdowns, mistakes.

**Sky Belhaim**: Cyan Inkling boy. A newbie when it comes to Turf Wars, Sky generally has a low sense of presence since he is the quiet type. Sky knows his place well and does not like taking risks, thus if there is anything he cannot handle he will seek aid for more experienced individuals like Inker. Despite his unwillingness to take risks, Sky also does not like being left out, which is why he followed Neon to Octo Valley despite having little to no fighting experience. His quiet, overly safe yet somewhat serious personality combined with his lack of fighting experience makes him the polar opposite of Neon, as such Neon often gets on his nerves with her loud and boastful behavior.

Likes: Being safe and alive

Dislikes: Danger, risks, Neon?

**Lila Fields**: Purple Inkling girl. Lila is a very young and impressionable girl, at 11 years old she grew out of her squid form much earlier than the average Inkling and was considered gifted. Lila was kept close to her family at all times, due to being bullied as a child, her brother Laven used to comfort her when she was feeling down so she feels emotionally attached to him and vice versa. Though this makes Lila somewhat dependent on her family, to a point where she cannot imagine living without them.

Likes: Friendly creatures, family, Laven

Dislikes: bullies, the boiling pit.

**Octarians**

**Victoria Holter**: Octoling girl. Originally an average Octoling soldier, Victoria wandered into Inkopolis on accident, she was originally distrustful of Kalus and the other Inklings, but have come to learn that they are not the evil creatures Octavio had them made out to be. Victoria is often serious, calm and somewhat cunning, choosing never to outright stand against anyone, however when things go wrong, Victoria will often lose her cool. Victoria is loyal to the Octarian race despite her friendships with Inker and the others, although she might secretly harbour feelings for Kalus.

Likes: Her family, Calamari Inkantation, Octo Valley, Victory, Kalus?

Dislikes: Octavia, being talked down too

**Octavia**: Elite Octoling. Elite Octoling, Acting Leader of Octo Valley, Octavia claims to be simply acting as a backup leader for Octavio, yet seems to not care about her former leader at all. Octavia is clever enough to take control over Octo Valley in Octavio's absence, but she does not do a very good job of leading the Octarian army, though she does manage to accomplish a few things. Octavia holds her rank in high regard and finds it offensive when her rank is ignored. Octavia also chooses an oppressive way of leadership, choosing to make examples of those who step out of line.

Likes: power, obedience

Dislikes: insubordination

**Emily Vale**: Elite Octoling. Known to the Octarians as the Hero of Ark Polaris, Captain Emily Vale is one of the older officers in the Octarian army. Having fought and proven herself during the Octarian-Salmonid War 18 years ago, Vale is a brilliant tactician and splatoon leader. She is also quite compassionate towards her troops, as she always seeks to minimize her own casualties wherever possible. In return, the Octarians under her command are fiercely loyal to her, they may even hold Vale in higher regard than DJ Octavio himself.

(Also known as: the captain, Captain Vale, Octarian captain)

Likes: sparring, planning ahead, her splatoon

Dislikes: DJ Octavio, Octavia, sacrificing soldiers, mind control

**Lynn Radars**: Octoling girl. One of the Octolings serving under Elite Octoling Captain Emily Vale, Lynn has been in the army for a while and is quite close to the other Octarians in her splatoon. Though she is normally easygoing, she becomes shy, meek and obedient in the presence of powerful individuals such as Elite Octolings. Lynn does not appear too different from the average Octoling soldier, as they all most wear the same outfit and have the same colours. The only noticeable difference at first glance is that most of Lynn's hair tentacles are tied up in a ponytail, because her hair won't stop moving around on their own, grabbing things and bothering people

Likes: orders, the captain

Dislikes: tough choices, hair with a mind of it's own

**Eliza Pierce**: Octoling girl. A soldier serving under Captain Vale. Eliza had a sister named Eileen, who was splatted by Inker on her 19th birthday. Because of that, Eliza has an immense hatred of Inker and would do anything she could to make his life miserable. While her grudge against Inker was unreasonable, everything else about her was, she even acknowledged the childishness of her own grudge and doesn't actually hate Inklings aside from Inker. Eliza would also acknowledge Inker's skill and honor in battle, after seeing him rescue her fellow Octarians and even being saved by him twice. Eliza decided she would always hate Inker, but could also work with him to save Octo Valley from being forever under Octavio's control.

Likes: her brothers and sisters in arms, joking

Dislikes: Agent 3


	41. Preparations for War

**Part 9: New Hatreds (Chapters 41-46)**

_Without Octavio controlling them directly and with the Calamari Inkantation pushing Octarians to think for themselves, Octo Valley became a powder keg waiting to blow. With Victoria's act of defiance from the regular Octarian army and Octavio's regime, Octo Valley explodes into civil war between those who support Octavio's old hatreds of the Inklings and those with newfound hatred for Octavio's regime. As Octarians begin fighting amongst themselves on a never before seen scale, Agent 3 can only hope that once the dust settles, his dream of unifying Inklings and Octarians may finally come true. As for Inkopolis, it is watching, rooting for one side but reluctant to enter, fearing the start of another Great Turf Wars._

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

"Acting Leader, we have a problem..." An Elite Octoling reported to Acting Leader Octavia

"You don't say! Send the rest of the 4th combat group to OVNB studios! Wipe out the 401st splatoon and the splatoon calling themselves the 'New Octopolis army'!"

"But ma'am, we've lost more Elite Octolings throughout the city, the ones that are leading our forces in the city are being picked off by someone, without proper leadership-"

"I don't care, send them in and pull the Elite Octolings back."

"Uhh, yes ma'am."

Octavia did not know who was taking out those Elite Octolings, but it didn't matter as long as she still held the advantage in numbers.

Sure the Octarian army lost so much talented Elites over the past year that they had to reform splatoons into company sized groups while removing the existence of battalions and companies. But they still had a numerical advantage.

The formation of the Octarian army was now an 'army' which consisted of several 'groups' each group consisted of 3 - 5 splatoons and each splatoon was made up of around 144 Octarians and lead by an Elite Octoling.

And with the increased losses of Elite Octolings, the size of a splatoon had been inflated to 300-400 Octarians by now.

'_Even if the Elite Octoling was taken out the splatoon should still operate as normal' _Octavia thought, but she was wrong.

This was bigger than what she knew.

Victoria and the rest of Captain Vale's splatoon weren't the only ones who were losing faith in Octo Valley's government, there were thousands more, all the Octarians who heard the Calamari Inkantation back when Agent 3 squared off against DJ Octavio started thinking for themselves.

The Elite Octolings were too loyal to Octavio to abandon him and there were still a lot of Octarians who were okay with DJ Octavio's regime, but there were others who weren't.

Those others never spoke up because they were afraid, afraid of what Octavia and the Elite Octolings would do if they stood up.

Now they didn't have to be afraid anymore.

It wasn't until later that Octavia finally realized this.

"Acting Leader, things have gotten worse. The entire 4th combat group appears to have defected from the army to join their compadres." An Elite Octoling reported.

"What the? Who was in charge of the splatoons? Of that group?"

"Unfortunately they were splatted, I did say that someone was picking off the Elites in the field."

Octavia was pissed.

Everything was falling apart so quickly.

This 'New Octopolis Army' might have more support than she thought.

"Pull everyone back then, we need to reorganize ourselves."

"Yes Ma'am."

Octavia then took the time to search for anything on this 'Victoria Holter' such a random low ranking Octoling shouldn't be much to deal with, so why were things working in her favor?

Then she found it, Victoria was originally an Octoling in the 401st splatoon, which in turn was part of the 4th combat group.

She was also the one who was lost in Inkopolis but returned thanks to Agent 3.

_'Could it be possible that the 4th combat group defected because Victoria was one of their own.'_ Octavia wondered.

To another race this might be possible, but in Octo Valley nobody really made friends with anyone because of how often they would die.

So naturally the only explanation Octavia came up with, was that there is some other factor in play that she hasn't seen.

Maybe it was that unknown enemy who was hunting the Elites throughout Octo Valley.

Octavia guessed that it was someone from the New Squidbeak Splatoon, but it was impossible, they couldn't know the Undercity so well that they could remain undetected and know exactly where to flee.

If Vale hadn't been confirmed dead a while ago, she would have suspected it was her.

There was only one thing to do now, calm down and plan a counterattack.

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

While Octavia and the Elite Octolings were shocked by this unexpected development, Victoria was surprised.

The splatoon sent to attack the studios that she, Inker and the others were occupying was the same splatoon she was once a part of.

What was more surprising was the news that they had lost their commanding officers to some unknown enemy and after the strict and cruel orders they were given before, they had decided to join Victoria instead.

They weren't alone, there were much MUCH more Octarians flocking to the studio.

Victoria only called herself the 'New Octopolis Army' because she didn't have a better name in mind, but now she found herself leading what was quickly becoming an army.

Sure she did invite anyone who wanted to make a stand against Octavio to join up with her at the OVNB Studios, but she didn't expect this kind of a response.

"Octo Valley has really been divided in two…." Victoria muttered as she watched more and more Octarians arrive, volunteering themselves to help.

'_What about the army?' _Victoria wondered '_The army should has attacked us by now.'_

Victoria was sure that Octavia was furious and would immediately mobilized the entire army to overwhelm her.

Instead they were only met by soldiers who were ready to switch over to Victoria's side.

The single splatoon which was previously under the leadership of Captain Vale, had grown to a small army with thousands of Octarians.

It wasn't anywhere close to the size of the regular Octarian army nor the reserve army occupying Octo Canyon, but it was still way more than VIctoria or anyone was expecting.

Now was the matter of equipping all these Octarians for battle.

"Agent 3! See anything from up there?" Lynn called up to Inker, who hadn't moved from his spot on the roof.

"Nope nothing, I don't think the army is coming."

"Okay, you should probably get down here now, the captain is about to make her next move."

The 'captain' in this case, was Victoria, although she wasn't technically a captain, Lynn and the others insisted on calling her that since she was taking Captain Vale's role.

Victoria, now convinced that Octavia and her army wasn't coming, decided to make her own moves.

Now that she had her old splatoon mates joining her, she should take advantage of whatever resources they brought with them.

"Kevin.." Victoria called out to the large chatterbox of a Octostriker.

"Hmm? Yeah what's up? We are pretty popular at the moment aren't we?"

Victoria was trying to give orders yet Kevin didn't pass the chance to make small talk.

"Yes I didn't expect this kind of a reaction.. Well forget about that. Can your saucer still fly?"

"Can it ever!"

"Good, then I want you to fly over to Melanin and fire some Inkstrikes at any craft they have there."

"Just me? Haha… err I guess I can try but-"

"Of course not, take any other Octostriker we have with you. Oh and I recall you carrying Octosnipers on your saucer while you were still in the army, do that too."

"Alright! Leave that to me."

"When you come back don't bother landing here, We'll probably be gone by then, actually hold on, we should probably change our radio frequencies first."

Victoria almost forgot an important detail.

Even though it was unanimously decided she was going to lead, she still lacked experience.

After nearly sending Kevin and a bunch of other Octostrikers away with no proper communication equipment, Victoria decided to send those that were fit for fighting back to their hideout to grab some equipment and armor.

Eliza took a splatoon along with some volunteers to go back to their lair and arm the volunteers, while Lynn, Victoria, Inker and the others waited at the studios for more Octarians to arrive.

Those that showed up had the same reasoning.

"Why are we trying to fight the Inklings anyway? Shouldn't repairing the valley come first?"

"Why hasn't anyone stood up in the past hundred years?"

"Why are we expected to just deal with this collapsing place and call it home?"

Nobody knew why their whole species just accepted their place and did whatever Octavio told them.

But now they were going to change that.

Octavio did nothing but push them to war against Inklings, Octavia did nothing but push them to war with Inklings, Victoria? She was kinda doing the same thing, but not against the Inklings this time.

That one small difference meant so much to a species looking for change.

What Victoria called the New Octopolis Army, soon became a movement of freedom from the old Octarian regime.

It made waves through Octo Valley, reaching the ears of those who weren't even affiliated with the Octarians…

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Lila watched the saucers fly by, sounds of inkstrikes could be heard in the distance.

Octo Valley sounded like a war zone.

"Umm Emily, I want to go home." She muttered

Before her stood Emily Vale, though her face sometimes looked cruel, right now she appeared sympathetic.

"Don't be scared Lila, I won't let anything happen to you."

"Why do you need me so badly?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"What if I don't?"

"I'll tell you later, for now we got another Elite Octoling to deal with, I've got a bone to pick with this one."

They had just seen Kevin and other defecting Octostrikers demolish Nautilus base's hangars, grounding whatever other saucers they had left.

"They are doing pretty well…" Emily commented.

They watched the Octarian army try to fire back at the saucers, but Kevin and the other Octostrikers beat a hasty retreat.

With their saucers unable to fly, Octavia would likely start using the reserve army's vehicles.

"Perhaps we can try and deal with the runners? No nevermind, we should focus on the Elite Octolings." Emily said.

She led Lila away, to another place where they could find an Elite Octoling.

"Could we maybe go tell Kal that we are here?" Lila asked

"No, we can't speak with anyone until we are finished here. Now keep quiet or we might get spotted."

It was getting more and more difficult for them to move around unseen, now that all the protesting Octarians were either arrested or joined Victoria's New Octopolis army.

Emily led Lila to another place Lila was unfamiliar with, as with most of the place they had been to over the past few days, it was dark and abandoned.

Lila assumed Emily was going to shoot someone through a window again, but instead Emily seemed to vanish the moment they arrived.

For a moment Lila was calm, assuming Emily went to do her own thing, but then she quickly became worried.

"Emily! Where are you?!" she called out.

This drew the attention of a passing Octoling.

No, not a normal Octoling, an Elite one.

Did Emily know she would be passing by at this very moment?

The curious Elite Octoling entered the abandoned building.

A scared Lila, quickly dove behind some abandonned furniture, landing a bit hard against the floor.

It hurt a bit, but she wasn't going to cry out.

She noticed the Elite Octoling speak to someone, but nobody else was there, either she was talking over the radio or some was mumbling to herself.

"I can hear you breathing, why don't you come out." the Elite Octoling said, pulling out an Octoshot and aiming it towards Lila.

Lila panicked.

What was she supposed to do here?

The Elite Octoling was quickly approaching, however only moments before she reached her, Emily reappeared.

The Elite Octoling probably wasn't expecting two sea creatures here.

Grabbing the Elite Octoling and twisting her arm, Emily quickly managed to disarm the Elite Octoling.

Emily struggled with the Elite Octoling, for some reason, she chose not to shoot her with the Bamboozler.

"Surprised to see me Lieutenant?"

"What? Who are you?"

Then the Elite Octoling managed to get a glimpse of Lila.

"Inkling?" she exclaimed, before being knocked down by Vale.

From the sidelines, Lila watched Emily fight with someone who was apparently familiar to her.

Emily however, was not bested when it came to hand to hand combat.

Being pushed back, the Elite Octoling tried her best to block Emily's attacks, but Emily was far too fast.

Even when the Elite Octoling was able to get a punch off, Emily would return three more.

Meanwhile all Lila could do was sit on the uncomfortable floor, watching the fight in front of her.

"You… I don't know what you're up to, but even if I die here, it won't help Inkopolis." The Elite managed to say, between blows. "They are next."

Emily however didn't mind.

"You think that's why i'm here? I don't care about Inkopolis!"

Pulling one of her opponent's arms over her shoulder, Emily flipped the Elite Octoling over her and pinned her to the ground.

Emily took this time to pull out the Bamboozler.

"Take a good look at my face McKenna! Did you forget who I am!?"

"What?"

The battered Elite stared up at Emily.

"It's me, Emily Vale, the same one you screwed over back in Octo Canyon."

"No it ca-"

She was finished off by the Bamboozler they had borrowed.

"Emily!"

"Lila, are you okay?" Vale asked.

"Why did you disappear like that?!" Lila cried.

"There there, I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

"Yeah but… but I was scared."

"You weren't in any danger, I knew you would call out for me and draw Mckenna into this abandoned building." Emily assured the little Inkling.

"W-what?"

"I did say I had a bone to pick with this particular Octoling, after all it's thanks to her that I lost Claire and half my splatoon. It's a good thing she always takes the same route to get to Nautilus base.""

"So that's why you brought me here? As bait?"

"No, well not exactly, you know you're helping me out in a big way."

"Okay… just please don't do that again."

"Don't worry, I won't do it again. Come on now, we should leave in case anyone heard the shot."

"Okay..." Lila was hurting a bit from her dive earlier, but it was nothing, she followed Emily back into the Undercity, still somewhat nervous.

Then she remembered she still hadn't told her why she was needed here.

* * *

**Parliament building, Inkopolis**

As the minister of defense, Arcus Hilgendorf had seen nothing like it.

This was not an emergency like the Vanguard incident with Lila Fields that happened before, but rather a developing situation that they had to keep their eyes on.

After all Octo Valley was right underneath Inkopolis

In his office, Arcus reached for the phone and dialed the prime minister..

"Hello?"

"Prime minister, Hilgendorf from the ministry of defense."

"What is it Arcus?"

"Sir, as unbelievable as it may sound, it seems that Octo Valley is in a full blown civil war. Communications have been unclear, but from what I've been able to gather one side is tired of DJ Octavio constantly trying to steal our power supply."

"So they're fighting among themselves? What do we have to do with this?"

"Sir, while previous attempts by the Octarians to retake the surface ended in failure, if the right side wins this war, we may have the opportunity to reconnect with our eight armed friends."

"You mean try and make peace with the Octarians? Skimmer's administration gave up on that eighty years ago."

"While that may be true, don't you agree that Octo Valley might have some good things to offer us, should our two races reconnect?"

"Like what? Octo Valley is barren of any valuable resources, as for their technology the only things worth noting are hovercrafts and flying saucers, which aren't any better than our planes and cars."

"I see, well then, I'll be keeping an eye on the situation as it develops, but for now please consider the possibility of Inkopolis getting involved."

"Look I don't know what assets you've got in Octo Valley, but do make sure they aren't caught. I'm not about to put Inkopolis at odds with the Octarians and risk a second great turf war."

"I understand, have a good day prime minister."

Arcus hung up, then immediately picked up the phone again, dialing a different number."

"Uncle Craig, you were right, Steenson doesn't care. Whatever happens in Octo Valley, Inkopolis isn't getting involved."

On the other end, Cap'n Cuttlefish spoke.

"That's why I'd never get into politics. Well, I think my boy Agent 3 can whoop some of the Octarians around, but this is a civil war on a scale he's never seen."

"Sorry Craig, I wish there was more I could do."

"Don't ink over it, you got your own job to do. I know part of you still wishes to be a hero like your parents, but let's stay in the moment."

"Right, well then, please keep me updated."

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

"Well, looks like you lose again." After clearly explaining everything to Arcus Hilgendorf, Cuttlefish took the time to taunt his old nemesis.

"Not yet, Octavia still has a tune going. As long as the Elite Octolings still splat to the beat, Octo Valley is mine."

"Oh but that famous captain of yours found a loophole."

"And that involved offing herself. Hmph, ambitious little Vale just couldn't leave well enough alone."

When Octavio last saw Captain Vale, he revealed to her that the Elite Octolings like her could never go their own way no matter what. When Vale threatened to overthrow him at all cost, Octavio simply laughed it off knowing that an Elite like Vale could never really bring herself to oppose him, even the Inkantation would only have a temporary effect.

But he underestimated Vale's resolve.

"To think that captain would so readily throw away her own life…"

"Or did she?" Cuttlefish added "Someone stole my Bamboozler a while ago and left a note. That captain might still be out there, hunting down the other Elite Octolings."

"That's impossible, she could never bring herself to do that, not with her level of mind conditioning."

"Oh no, it says right here." Cuttlefish showed Octavio a note "Borrowed your weapon to hunt down the other Elite Octolings, don't come looking for me. Signed: Emily Vale."

There was a vein popping out on Octavio's forehead.

"Oh and here's my favorite part." Cuttlefish continued "P.S: Tell Octavio his beats couldn't be milder."

Octavio began to curse the supposedly dead captain under his breath, much to Cuttlefish's amusement.

Then he remembered he should probably let Agent 3 know that Vale was apparently still out there, hunting down the Elite Octolings.

The captain had earned his respect, Cuttlefish had never met an Octarian with such a strong resolve, aside from Octavio maybe.

* * *

**Guerilla Hideout, Octo Valley**

"Are you sure? I saw her dissolve in that lake myself." Inker said in response to Cuttlefish informing him that Vale might still be out there.

"Well, unless you know the captain signature, all we have is this name."

"Okay, uhh i'll talk to the Octarians about it. By the way are the other Agents coming? Victoria is overwhelmed by responsibility now and we could really use all the help we can get."

"Once they're done with their final performance, I think they'll be rushing to help."

"Oh right! The Final Splatfest! Ahh I'm really going to miss it aren't I?"

"Looks that way bucko."

"Dammit…"

Inker, Victoria, Lynn and the others had returned to the lair they previously used as a hideout.

Only problem was that they now had thousands of Octarians with them, opposed to the few hundred they initially had.

Victoria knew that Eliza's job involved checking inventory, so she had sent her back to the lair early to start arming the volunteers, however.

"There is no way we'd have an extra four thousand Octoshots lying around, and don't even get me started on the hovercrafts! Even if we started using the rollers the previous captain made, we'd still be left with several thousand unarmed Octarians." Eliza complained

Vale's lair had been equipped for a thousand Octarians at best.

"Uhh… alright then, I guess most of us will be staying here until we can find more weapons…" Victoria replied.

She really wasn't used to this.

"Captain, what are we going to do about shelter? There is no way we can fit everyone inside this one lair." Lynn asked

"Arghh! I didn't plan for this… Why can't the problems come one at a time? Well uhh, there are dozens of abandoned kettles out there, we could just repurpose the largest one." Victoria suggested.

"Hey Victoria, umm, I know you're busy with other things, but according to Cuttlefish, captain Vale might still be alive."

"What?! How?"

"Well, apparently she stole the Cap'n's Bamboozler and left for Octo Valley after leaving a note…"

"Are you should the old timer didn't just lose his uhh.. Bamboozle… something?" Victoria's impression of Cuttlefish wasn't all that great.

"If he did, why would he find a note signed by Vale?"

"Is it really her who wrote it?"

"I don't know, who can recognise her handwriting? Lynn probably."

"Definitely Lynn, I'll send her over to Cuttlefish."

"Hey wait, isn't there other things you should take care of?"

"Yeah, it's not like Lynn leaving is going to slow us down. But if there is a chance that Captain Vale is out there, I want to find her and ask her what the hell was she thinking!"

Victoria was feeling overwhelmed by all the sudden responsibilities she was burdened with, part of her was mad at Vale for jumping off that cliff and leaving everything to them, another part was hoping that bringing Vale back would ease the pressure on her.

Things didn't end there, after Eliza, Lynn and Inker came even more problems for Victoria to deal with.

"We are trying to move some of the newcomers to another lair, but the kettles there have hardly any power." One Octoling reported

"What can we do about that? Search the other kettles for fake zapfish, if you can't find any you'll have to do with living in the dark for a bit." Victoria replied

"Captain Holter, with all these new volunteers, our current rations won't last more than a week." came another report from an Octoling.

"Ahh I almost forgot about that! Sadly I don't see any other option aside from having the newcomers go back and take whatever food they had left in their old homes."

"Yo Victoria! We smashed Octavia's saucers good but uhh… well we're kinda low on fuel for our own saucers and I don't think we can fly anytime soon." Kevin reported

"Guess we'll have to do without them, well Vale didn't need saucers before so I think we'll be fine. At least you and the other Octostrikers can still fly."

"Ahh Victoria! We have a problem, one of the new volunteers brought his pregnant wife along and we're not really sure what to do with her." Violet reluctantly added to Victoria's growing list of problems.

"Why the hell is someone bringing their pregnant wife into a revolution!?"

Reports like that kept coming in, thought it should have been expected, for someone as inexperienced as Victoria she was having a hard time.

"Victoria!" Kal exclaimed, finally able to find her after squeezing through the crowded lair.

Victoria sighed, thinking that there was no end to her problems. "What do you need?"

"Huh? Nothing, I just wanted to see how you're doing, after all you did a great job, so many other Octarians are here for us now!" Kal was just there to give his support, but Victoria brushed him away.

"Thanks but I don't have time for this." Victoria said, turning back to other Octarians who had problems to report.

As much as she would like to relax a bit, she had no time to waste on other things.

Kal meanwhile, looked deflated after being shooed away. He stood still for a moment, watching Victoria trying her best to manage the growing New Octopolis army.

He shook his head '_No, Victoria is just being rational. Yes that's it she wouldn't just dismiss me like that if she didn't have a reason! I shouldn't waste her time.'_ Kal concluded and sadly left Victoria to her own problems.

With the sudden influx of volunteers who wanted to help end Octavia's rule and make peace with Inkopolis, they needed more rations, weapons, armor, housing, heck more of everything.

That wasn't the only problem…

"Is that Agent 3?" One Octotrooper whispered to his friend.

"Looks like it."

"What's he doing here?"

"Don't know but I don't like it, I thought this was an Octarian movement."

Inker, who had trouble earning the trust of Captain Vale's splatoon due to his previous actions against Octavio, was once again a cause for concern in the eyes of the newcomers.

Inker noticed the suspicious gazes cast his way.

Although they seemed wary of him, the new Octarians did not make any move again Inker.

But from experience, Inker worried that someone might try something eventually.

The last thing he needed was more Elizas harassing him day and night.

Speaking of Eliza she had noticed the tense atmosphere surrounding Agent 3's presence as well.

The newcomers she spoke with seemed to have mixed feelings about it, some were relieved to have someone as powerful as Agent 3 on their side, others were hoping for a ticket to Inkopolis if they could earn his trust.

But they were also worried he'd switch sides if Octavia promised to leave Inkopolis alone, others even held him responsible for Octo Valley's current state.

Eliza decided to report this to Victoria as well, but seeing over overwhelmed Victoria was trying to properly organize this new army of hers, she changed her mind.

'_This problem is Agent 3's so he should deal with it himself.'_

So Eliza searched for Inker, probably for the first time ever, to tell him about the few Octarians who were not thrilled about working with him.

"Agent 3!" Eliza called out, after finally spotting Inker talking with Sky.

When Inker saw Eliza he thought to himself '_oh no…'_ Knowing that Eliza couldn't possibly mean good news. Sky on the other hand felt hostility and took a step back for safety.

"What is it?" Inker asked

"Isn't it obvious? Do something about your presence already." Eliza commanded

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Can't you tell not everyone is okay with you being here."

"You've made that quite clear already."

"Not me, I'm putting up with you already, do something about the newcomers who blame you for Octo Valley's current state."

"What am I supposed to do about that? I can't just wave my hand and make everyone like me."

"Well do something! The captain should have taught you how important trust is."

"Are you just here to bother me?'

"Or course not!"

"I doubt it."

"What are you implying? That i'd go out of my way just to bother you for a few minutes?"

"Yeah, isn't that what you did when I first got here?"

"Oh shut up."

Sky silently watched Inker and Eliza trade quips.

He didn't come here to fight, so he just stood back and watched.

As Inker and Eliza continued their verbal spar, Sky noticed a strange looking Octarian approach.

From what he had learned, this type of Octarian was an Octostriker.

What he didn't know was how chatty this specific Octostriker was.

"Hey! You're Agent 3 aren't you? Good to see you getting along so well with our kind!" Kevin said in Octarian.

Though Inker didn't understand him, since only Octolings spoke in universal language, he glanced at Kevin for a moment, confused.

Eliza, being an Octoling, understood him

"Don't joke, haven't you heard some of us think that 3 here is why Octo Valley is a crumbling hell hole to begin with?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah there were a few guys like that, only a small amount from what I've seen though. Hey why is 3 not saying anything? And what's with that confused look?" Kevin asked

"I don't think he can understand you." Eliza pointed out "I doubt he speaks Octarain."

"Aww man, that's too bad, I wanted to ask him what a real sky looks like…. Oh I know, you two seem like good friends. Ask him for me!"

"Friends!?" Eliza angrily grabbed Kevin. "Don't ever say that again! Even as a joke!"

"Whoa whoa! Okay I get it!"

Eliza left go of Kevin, now in a bad mood, she glared at Inker one last time and huffed away.

"What's with her?" Kevin muttered.

Now that Eliza was gone, Sky was no longer afraid to speak up.

He had spent the last months becoming more and more fluent with the Octarian language and could understand every word Kevin spoke.

"Oh she hates Inker with a blind passion." Sky said.

Kevin was surprised to hear an Inkling speak Octarian.

"Hey you speak our language? Awesome!"

"Uhh guys? Don't leave me out here." Inker interjected, not understanding anything Kevin or Sky just said.

"Don't worry, he just accidentally assumed Eliza was your friend and it pissed her off."

"Hey, uhh what's your name?" Kevin asked Sky.

"Sky."

"Sky? Is that really...?"

"Yeah I know, Octarians and Inklings have different naming sense." Sky replied, being used to this reaction by now.

"Oh well, Sky, ask 3 about the real sky…. Not you I mean like the blue sky… Oh wait you're blue too… uhhh you know what I mean."

"Uhhh.. Kevin here wants to know about the sky?" Sky translated

He and Inker lived on the surface so there really wasn't anything to say about the sky.

But to a flying Octarian like Kevin, who spent his life underground, bumping his head against the ground every time he flew too high, the limitless sky was something of great interest.

"The Sky is uhh… light blue? And full of clouds…" Inker really didn't know what to say about something as normal as the sky.

Still he tried to make a casual conversation with Kevin, while Sky translated for him.

This had an effect on the other Octarians as well, specifically Octotroopers, Octoballs, Octocopters and all the other non Octoling species who had no way of talking to an Inkling before.

Seeing Agent 3 and an Octostriker chatting so casually, some of the other octarians were able to ease their paranoia of Agent 3 who had been depicted as a monster in Octarian media.

A few even joined in with their own questions and dreams about the surface scene.

The Octoball who wondered what a stake park was like.

The Octotrooper who was curious what became of Inkling tentacles after they got a haircut.

The Octocopter who had never seen a real helicopter before.

Now knowing that Sky could speak their language and that Agent 3 was friendly, Inker and Sky found themselves swarmed like celebrities by curious Octarians.

And while this was happening, Kal came by, looking for Inker and Sky after being shooed off by Victoria, only to see them surrounded by Octarians.

Kal could not speak Octarian, nor did he have a reputation like Inker.

'_Am I really useless here?' Kal thought._

He wasn't the hero type, he didn't like getting involved in troublesome events but he didn't like being left out either. Kal began to wonder if he should do what Victoria suggested before and head back to Inkopolis.

* * *

The next few days saw no fighting between the New Octopolis army and the Octarian army, as both Victoria and Octavia had to reorganize their forces.

With not enough equipment or housing for all the new volunteers, Victoria picked out the Octarians most fit for fighting and armed them, while she sent the rest back into the Undercity as sleeper agents, who would wait for the opportunity to nab the weapons of a fallen soldier and rejoin the main force.

As for Octavia she had to make sure all of her troops would obey her every command as well as protect the remaining Elite Octolings, who were getting fewer and fewer in number. Unfortunately the Elite Octolings were the only ones who would serve Octavio's cause unquestioningly so they still had to command the larger Octarian army.

Not planning to let Octavia make the first move, Victoria began starting skirmishes and ambushing the Octarian army throughout the valley.

Octavia on the other hand, dug in, trying to catch members of the New Octopolis army at a disadvantage, while at the same time trying to locate their main lairs as well as the mysterious individual who kept splatting her Elites.

Supposedly Captain Vale was still out there and Victoria would not pass the opportunity to bring her back into the fold.

For now, an Octarian civil war had begun.


	42. The Octarian Civil War

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Fighting broke out all over the Undercity, what was once considered the only habitable area in Octo Valley became a beacon of conflict.

Octavia and her better trained but overpopulated Octarian army was attacked at almost every turn by Victoria and her smaller and less equipped but easier to organize New Octopolis army.

Both Octavia and Victoria knew that the Elite Octolings were dwindling in number and they were essential for keeping the army in check.

So both sides had their own ways of dealing with them.

"Kevin, Eliza's splatoon is fighting an Octarian army splatoon in the southwest area of the Undercity, go over there and get an aerial view of the situation, if you see any Elite Octoling, send a volley of Inkstrikes at them." Victoria ordered

"Uhh you sure? I don't think we've got enough juice to get all the saucers in the air."

"Just one saucer will do, go for it."

"Wow I've never seen you this serious back in Nautilus, alright I'm on it! Come on guys, you wouldn't want to miss out on this would ya? Especially you Tony." Kevin said before taking off with his usual squad of Octosnipers

Victoria's plan was to focus on the Elite Octolings, after all she had heard from Inker that Captain Vale might still be out there doing the same thing.

If that was true, then they were most likely to run into her at some point, plus Victoria trusted Vale's judgement, so if Victoria figured that if Vale was going after the Elite Octolings there must be a good reason.

Should Captain Vale be found by her forces, Victoria decided she would rant a bit and lecture Vale on faking her death and leaving everyone behind, but she would also be thankful she was still alive and let her command this "New Octopolis" army.

'_Yeah, I'll make Vale deal with this burden of leadership with me as payback.'_

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

On the other side, Octavia had her own method of dealing with the massive losses of Elite Octolings over the past year.

"There is now an express training program for any Octoling wishing to advance to Elite, be warned the program is not to be taken lightly and only a small percentage will actually pass." Elite Octolings announced to the rest of Nautilus base.

Octavia had already relaxed some of the qualifications needed to become an Elite Octoling in the past, but never to this extent.

The quality of Elite Octolings were slowly going down as more fresh green recruits were able to advance rapidly to the Elite ranks.

"Ma'am, with this new program we might be able to resolve the lack of Elites in the army, but the other Elites and I aren't so glad that our ranks are so easily obtainable to these newbies." One Elite told Octavia.

"What? Are you saying you're jealous of new blood?"

"No ma'am, rather we don't like the idea of being replaced by inferior Octolings."

"Oh don't worry, you aren't being replaced."

To Octavia, giving these new Octolings an Elite title didn't actually make them a real Elite Octoling like her.

Rather the title itself was for show, it would make a normal Octoling feel more important and encourage them to stay with the Octarian army rather than join the New Octopolis army.

Plus they would serve as decoys or meat shields to the real Elites, who were the ones trained by Octavio.

"In short, I'm merely making them an Elite Octoling in name only, it will boost their morale, thinking they are much more capable than they really are, while at the same time painting a big target on their head." Octavia explained to the 'real' Elite Octolings.

"Ahh I see, sorry for doubting you Acting Leader."

"The best part is, we can leave these new Elites to lead the army and get splatted, while we can put our efforts into tracking down wherever these New Octopolis renegades are hiding."

"I understand, I'll get right on it!"

"And tell the reserve army to get off their butts and stand guard along the border, don't let anyone leave the Undercity!"

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Back in the city, Eliza led her own splatoon to battle the Octarian army.

Unlike Kevin, who was tasked with bombarding Elite Octolings, Eliza had the task of ambushing enemy splatoons and trying to capture usable equipment.

With a group of Octolings and Octotroopers, Eliza fought an Octarian army splatoon twice the size of her own.

Though by now Eliza and the rest of Vale's splatoon had gotten used to being outnumbered.

"First squad, all of you have shields so take the lead, any other trooper should hide behind a shielded one if they are hit." Eliza instructed her Octotroopers.

In response Eliza's Octotroopers faced off against the Octarian army in a formation resembling one known as a phalanx in human times.

As for the octolings, they followed Eliza to higher ground.

They were fighting in urban environments after all, so there was plenty of buildings for the Octolings to ink and climb.

"We should be safe up here, alright troopers, fall back and let them come to us."

On Eliza's command, the Octotroopers began to reverse back to where Eliza and her Octolings were waiting.

Eliza had gotten this idea from watching a certain green Inkling girl fighting at Melanin prison.

Back then, that Inkling decided to climb up high and shoot down at Eliza's fellow soldiers.

Eliza realized then that for some reason, Octolings had a tough time hitting elevated targets.

If her splatoon had that kind of trouble back then, there was no reason Octavia's splatoons wouldn't have the same troubles now.

Eliza and several squads of Octolings fired down at the Octarian army in the streets.

Unlike when Vale secretly tried to overthrow Octavia, there was no hesitation in the troops.

All of those on Victoria's side believed the Octarian army to be still under Octavio's sway, while all those on Octavia's side believed the New Octopolis army was corrupted by Inkopolis.

Octarian army Octotroopers were splatted cleanly from above by Eliza and her Octolings, which meant their hovercrafts took minimal damage.

The Octolings of the Octarian army rapidly tried to ink and swim their way up the buildings to fight face to face with Eliza and the other New Octopolis Octolings.

Eliza and her Octolings quickly alerted each other to the climbing enemy Octolings and fired upon them, cutting down their numbers before they began a skirmish on the rooftops.

"No turning back now, we've got this!" Eliza shouted to her troops.

Above them, Kevin and his squad of Octosnipers flew low over the city, their eyes scanning the Octarian army for any Elite Octoling.

"Ahh there! I think I see one!"

As ordered, Kevin let loose a volley of Inkstrikes as soon as an Elite Octoling was spotted.

Eventually the Octarian army gave up and retreated, while Eliza and her splatoon was left to scavenge the battlefield for anything in working condition.

"Keep your head on a swivel, the army might regroup and come back here. Also check those abandoned buildings in case we are being watched."

"Now for the dirty work." an Octotrooper sighed as he hopped off his hovercraft to pick through the equipment left behind by splatted Octarians.

He was joined by the other Octolings and Octotroopers accompanying Eliza.

"Hey how's this?" One Octotrooper asked an Octoling, holding an Octoshot in its single tentacle.

"That's dented pretty badly, but I think the weaponsmith can fix it up."

"What about these goggles?"

"Should we really be taking goggles? I mean they might be our enemies but those goggles are the only way to identify a fallen Octoling."

"Ahh right, Let's leave them here."

Another Octotrooper inspected a small hovercraft.

"This one works, and it's got enough power to run for days!"

"Alright bring that with us we can clean off those scratches once we get back to the lair."

"No you can't! These scratches are proof of the care another trooper gave this craft before we got to him!"

Since they did not wear goggles, Octotroopers often left marks or doodles on their hovercrafts to tell them apart.

Just like the Octolings being unwilling to loot Octoling goggles, the Octotroopers did not want to remove any customization the previous owner of a hovercraft made.

They may be on opposite sides, but in the end they were all Octarians.

But there was one exception.

"Hey I think I found the goggles of an Elite Octoling!" One Octotrooper exclaimed, proudly waving the goggles in the air.

"Oh really? Good job!" Eliza congratulated the trooper.

"Thank you, thank you, I really didn't expect to find anything in those abandoned buildings, maybe we should search all of them."

"Wait a second, you found this indoors?"

"Yeah, what's the problem?"

Kevin was in charge of blasting the Elite Octolings from the air.

They saw him fire inkstrikes at what they presumed was an Elite Octoling, so why was this pair of Elite Octoling goggles found indoors?

"Just curious, that's all."

Maybe it didn't belong to an Elite after all, if that was the case Eliza planned to leave it behind for the army to pick up.

But first she should make sure, if it did belong to an Elite Octoling it would probably have important information.

Eliza rewinded the goggles and watched what it had saved before it's owner was splatted.

Then she took it off quickly, her eyes wide with surprise and confusion.

"I need to get this to Captain Holter and Agent 3." She said turning back to the Octotrooper who had brought her the goggles. "You were right, these did belong to an Elite Octoling."

"I knew it!"

Eliza raised her voice so the rest of the splatoon could hear. "Pack it up quickly! We're moving out!"

Eliza's splatoon took whatever was still in working condition and proceeded to trek back to the lair, while another splatoon showed up to occupy the area.

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

"Honor to the valley"

*click*

"Captain, Eliza's splatoon is back and they seem to have brought back alot of stuff." Lynn reported

"Great, if this keeps up Octavia won't have the advantage in numbers anymore." Victoria said

So far she hadn't been pushing the New Octopolis army that far into the Undercity, she had splatoon leaders like Eliza fight defensively with the goal of scavenging equipment for the volunteers.

After all, it was obvious that one should not seek to attack a numerically superior army head on.

According to plan, the New Octopolis army would only take over and occupy areas of the Undercity for short periods of time to scavenge for equipment and bring their volunteers back into the fold.

The battle Eliza had with the Octarian army was one of many, usually Eliza's troops would drop off their loot, grab some food and head back out, but this time Eliza had something for Victoria.

"Captain, you need to take a look at this, and bring Agent 3 as well."

"Inker? Promise you won't start a fight with him?"

"That's past me." Eliza replied, although she still didn't like Agent 3 this was something he needed to see.

"Alright then, Lynn tell Inker to get here on the double."

"Right away ma'am." Lynn took off quickly, she used to run chores like this for Vale and she would do the same for Victoria.

* * *

Inker and Sky had been getting real popular among the New Octopolis troops, since they were the first Inklings they could comfortably speak too, both in Universal and Octarian languages.

Kal still hung out with them, but he wasn't that popular as he couldn't speak Octarain like Sky, nor was he a famed warrior like Inker.

With most of the soldiers off fighting somewhere, Inker, Sky and Kal often struck up conversations with Octarian volunteers and the refugees they previously rescued.

Pretty much everyone they met was interested in Inkopolis and the surface life.

"You know Octo Valley isn't the only place that uses Power Eggs and Zapfish, Inkopolis does too." Inker said

Sky translated what Inker said to the non Octoling Octarians.

"Wait, from what I know, a Zapfish makes much more power than a power egg, what would Inkopolis need those for?" One curious Octoling asked.

"Ahh well that i'm not too sure hahah." Inker scratched his head in embarrassment "Oh but I do remember them being used to upgrade my Hero Shot." Inker showed the Octarians the sleek weapon with glowing green lights.

A few were nervous seeing a weapon so close for the first time, other more curious ones stepped closer to Inker for a better look.

"Now that I think about it, we mostly use power eggs in our factories."

"They're used to make Octoshots?"

"Not as far as I know, I just switch up the power eggs running the machines."

While the Octarians were fasinated by what Inker told them of Inkopolis, they were also interested in Sky's vocabulary.

*snicker*

"What?" Sky asked

"Oh nothing, I just like your accent, pfft." an Octoball replied.

Sky glanced at an Octotrooper for validation.

"Yeah you definitely have an accent, well it should be normal for the first Octarian speaking Inkling."

"Accent huh, then I should keep practising."

"For starters you should pronounce vowels longer and silence the following letter."

"Kindo like thees?" Sky said terribly.

Seeing the Octotrooper and Octoball burst into laughter Sky realized they played him.

"Very funny…"

In the midst of casual chatter, Lynn ran up to the group.

"U-umm, Agent 3, the captain requests your presence." she said.

Inker nodded, said "I gotta go, see ya." to Sky, Kal and the Octarians and followed Lynn off to see Victoria.

Kal and Sky watched their friend walk off, before following him.

If something involved Inker it probably involved Inkopolis or Inklings, so they would naturally be curious.

Inker arrived at Victoria's office, where Victoria had already watched what was on the goggles Eliza had brought.

Eliza glared at Inker when he arrived

"Took you long enough, quick you need to see this." Eliza said.

"Easy now, your splatoon should be done eating by now, head back to the Undercity." Victoria ordered

"Yes, of course."

"On second thought just get them to stand by for now."

"Alright."

Making sure Eliza wasn't there to bother Inker, Victoria showed Inker what was on the Elite Octoling goggles.

Specifically what happened in the last hour of that Elite Octoling's life.

The goggles recorded the Elite Octoling going on a jog through the undercity.

Inker wondered why an Elite Octoling would jog while in full armor, but he had seen Victoria, Lynn and all the other Octarian soldiers do it, so he assumed it was to get used the the weight or something.

Halfway through her jog, the Elite heard a voice_ "Emily! Where are you!"_

It sounded familiar to Inker, but he was too focused on who the voice was calling for.

"Emily, could it be Emily Vale?"

"It's possible, but keep watching, guess who's calling for her."

Inker watched as the Elite Octoling entered an abandoned building, glanced around, then drew her Octoshot.

"_I can hear you breathing, why don't you come out."_

And from behind a dusty old sofa peeked an all too familiar purple girl.

"Wait hold on, pause for a sec…. Is that…. LILA IS HERE?!" Inker exclaimed.

Outside Victoria's office, Kal and Sky were eavesdropping on them.

The office was relatively soundproof, so they couldn't hear much,but when Inker shouted they could hear him clear as day.

"Lila!? Lila is in Octo Valley?" Kal exclaimed

"Shhh quiet! They're going to hear us." Sky snapped

"So what! Why is Victoria going to Inker for this? Why is Lila in Octo Valley? I saw her off at the Molluscs of Mercy orphanage."

"If you keep quiet and listen you might be able to hear more."

"U-ummm, what are you two doing?" Lynn asked, when faced with the strange sight of Sky and Kal plastering their ears against a door.

"Ohh Lynn, we were just-" Sky began, but Kal didn't go for an excuse.

"I'm trying to find out what Victoria needs Inker for."

"Ohh, w-well I know you couldn't possibly be helping Octavia, but you two look really suspicious right now."

"I don't care, I just heard Inker shout the name 'Lila' If it's something involving her why am I being left out? I was the one who had to suffer being Laven for months back then, why is Victoria keeping this from me?" Kal complained, his recent feelings of uselessness combined with Victoria leaving him out of things was getting on his nerves.

"U-umm, well this is only a hunch, but I think she-" Lynn began but Kal cut her off.

"That's it, I'm going in there to ask her directly."

"I'm not getting involved with this…" Sky said, backing away.

"Wait hold on, I was about to say that-" Lynn began, but Kal ignored both her and Sky, he put his hand on the doorknob, turned it and the first thing he heard was.

"I don't want Kal involved!" came Victoria's voice.

Inker had seen everything and wanted to tell Kal, but Victoria wouldn't let him.

"Why not? This is Lila we are talking about."

"That's exactly why, you tell him and he's going to want to come with us and get in the way!"

"That's true but-"

Kal quietly closed the door.

Inker and Victoria just confirmed what he was afraid off.

'_I really am useless down here, aren't I?'_ Kal thought.

He had already been feeling out of place down in Octo Valley, where he had very little to do aside from occasionally getting to help Inker and Victoria.

'_Is this how Victoria felt back in Inkopolis?'_

For a moment Kal felt down, but he quickly shook the idea out of his head once more.

'_No, there must be more I don't know! yes that's right, it's too early to feel blue!'_ Kal concluded.

He decided to look upset and barge in and question Victoria and confirm why she kept leaving him out of everything.

Kal rushed into the room surprising Victoria and Inker.

Thinking that there was some sort of emergency Victoria immediately stood up.

"Kal? What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? I just heard you mention Lila, plus something about not telling me? Just's what could possibly be so secret that you can't tell me?!" Kal demanded to know, hiding his earlier feeling of angst.

Victoria and Inker exchanged glances.

Inker suggested bringing Kal along and Victoria refused, Kal overheard that much.

But as to why Victoria was against bringing Kal along.

"Because I know you too well." Victoria replied "The moment I mention Lila you would have agreed to come along, no matter what. But that's the problem, you really aren't suited for this.."

"And Inker is?"

"Inker beat DJ Octavio, he might not know much about war, but he's at least proven himself capable in the past."

"Yeah? Well….. Well I've been to Octo Valley plenty of times by now and I'm still here!" Kal protested

"That's because there wasn't a full blown civil war going on! Look, I'm grateful for your help, but please make this easy on me and sit this one out. I can't be looking over my shoulder all the time making sure you're ok." Victoria replied.

"Are you saying I'm dead weight? I'm done so much in the past and now I'm suddenly just dead weight?"

"If a civvy like you keeps trying your luck, you won't be dead weight, just dead."

"What's a civvy? And what kind of nonsense are you spouting, remember that I was part of the Vanguard Movement's second wave."

"As if that's something to brag about."

"Look, I've made it this far, nothing's going to happen if I tag along."

"That's a death flag, no way are you coming with us now."

Kal groaned in frustration "Fine… I get it… I'm not needed right? You don't want me here? I'll leave."

"Wait…." Victoria stopped Kal.

It was true that Kal wasn't of any help, but seeing him off like this didn't sit right with her.

"I…uhhh…. I may as well tell you what's going on."

"Oh? Please do, actually I heard you mention Lila, did she somehow get taken from Inkopolis again?" Kal seemed to immediately calm down once Victoria agreed to explain things further.

But to Victoria, it seemed like the only reason Kal got so worked up in the first place was because he heard Lila's name.

"Why are you so concerned about Lila?"

"How can I not be concerned about a defenseless 11 year old wandering Octo Valley? Why are you even asking?"

"I uhh... thought you didn't like getting involved in troublesome events. You were so again pretending to be Laven back then.""

"That's true, but this is Lila we are talking about, I guess once I get to know someone I end up worrying much more."

"So that's it? Is that also why you're here now? Just because you got to know me so you want ot try and help?"

"Uhh yeah I guess."

"So hiding me in Inkopolis and saving me from the Octarian army, you do that for anyone if you got to know them?"

"Once again, why are you asking?"

"Oh nothing…. I just thought I knew you better."

"?" Kal thought Victoria was going to reveal what was happening with Lila, why did she suddenly go off topic?

Noticing Kal's expression, Victoria rapidly went back on topic before Kal could wonder anymore about it.

"Anyways about Lila, she's in the Undercity, apparently Vale had something to do with it." Victoria explained

"Vale? Did you say she died? What could she possibly need Lila for?"

"Well we're going to find out, I'm taking Lynn and Inker with me. I know you probably want to come too, but it really is best if you stayed here. You see, Lila has been..."

Kal stopped her there "Don't tell me now, you'll make me want to tag along. Just make sure you bring Lila back to Inkopolis and properly punish that Captain."

He left quickly, in case he changed his mind again.

"Kal? What was that? Since when were you so concerned about being included?" Sky asked as Kal sped past him.

"I don't know maybe I'm overreacting."

"You definitely are."

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Lila watched Emily Vale pace around frustrated.

Ever since the civil war heated up there had been less and less places for them to hide.

They didn't know when the Octarain or New Octopolis army would arrive and start a fight in the middle of the street.

But that wasn't Emily's problem.

"I don't even recognise half the Elites we've taken out!" Emily complained

"Umm is that bad?" Lila really had no idea why she was here.

"Bad? Of course! As long as DJ Octavio's Elite Octolings exist he can control the army at any time, why do you think we're hunting them down? Octavia must be promoting random Octolings to try and protect the real Elite Octolings."

They had been spending their days, hiding and looting abandoned buildings all while assassinating Elite Octolings.

Well it was really Emily Vale doing all the work, Lila only sat by and watched.

Emily sighed, "I didn't want it to come to this, but our best bet is to head for Nautilus base itself and try to catch some of the real Elite Octolings there, it's going to be risky…"

"Oh umm, can I go home then?" Lila asked

There wasn't anything wrong with that, Lila didn't belong here and she knew it.

But for some reason Emily wouldn't let her go.

"Please, just trust me a little longer, we can fix Octo Valley, just the two of us, then nobody will ever have to go through what we have."

"But what if I-"

"Don't worry about the ifs just worry about the how. We'll go around and try to locate the army, once the coast is clear we will make a break for Nautilus base."

Lila yawned "Okay then…"

"Still tired? Need me to carry you?"

"No thanks."

"It's dangerous to fall asleep in the middle of a battle."

"I won't, there's no way I can sleep down here. It's such a bad reminder….."

"I've got your back, don't worry, nothing will happen to you. Besides I know Nautilus base like the back of my hand, they'll never see us coming."

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

As battles raged on in the Undercity, nobody thought to look for a single Inkling heading towards the main hub of the Octarian army.

Lila followed Emily to Nautilus despite the growing unease in her chest shouting at her to turn back.

The two quietly left a small trail of ink behind them by detaching the Ink Tank from the Bamboozler they had stolen, letting ink quietly seep out onto the ground.

There was no moonlight in Octo Valley so the trail of ink wasn't going to be easily noticed. But just for safety, Emily stopped the Ink Tank from dripping a few hundred meters from their destination.

They were close to Nautilus base.

To calm herself down, Lila forced herself to observe Emily's face.

The look of sheer determination she had, proved how committed she was to freeing Octo Valley.

"Umm, why do I need to be here?" Lila asked for the umpteenth time.

"Now is not the time for that, keep quiet, this place is swarming with the Octarian army."

It would have been easy for Emily to just pretend to be a normal Octoling, but Lila as an Inkling stood out like a sore thumb.

Actually Emily had her face shown everywhere and marked 'traitor' so she couldn't do any better.

"So where are we now?" Lila whispered

"Well we aren't anywhere important that's for sure, this is an outdoor shooting range that is mostly unused, it's outside of Nautilus' walls so there aren't any guards, just a patrol every now and then. Now if I recall correctly, there is one real Elite who often comes out here to practice late at night." Emily said, pulling out the Bamboozler they stole from Cap'n Cuttlefish.

"Boswell comes out here to keep her senses sharp, well let's put her to the test." Emily muttered.

There was nothing but a small shed nearby, so Emily and Lila hid inside.

"Ahhh, what's all this? It's too dark I can't see." Lila complained as she tripped over something inside the shed.

"Shhh, don't worry about it, there is nothing here but junk, things like broken Octoshots or old brushes." Emily snapped, peeking through a tiny gap in the doorframe, watching for her target.

Lila however was distracted by a particular object in the shed.

She couldn't see it clearly as her eyes had yet to adjust to the darkness, but something about it felt similar.

Was it the colour? No she couldn't make out the colour, the shape maybe?

Lila reached out and picked up the unknown object.

It didn't feel familiar, maybe she had only seen it before, but it felt so familiar to a point where she felt drawn to it.

Slowly she could make out what looked like a weapon with a flame painted on it.

"Is this?"

"Here she comes get ready!" Lila heard Emily say, but she was too focused on the object slowly coming into focus.

It was a Blaster, one that appeared to have been worn down from tampering, but still usable.

It had an L and an F engraved into the barrel.

"Lila? Lila! Focus!" Emily called for her but Lila was too focused on the blaster.

"Th-this is…. Laven's…."

There was only one person Lila knew who mained a Blaster and had L and F as his initials.

No wonder the Blaster only looked so familiar.

She had seen Laven with the weapon many times but never actually used it.

Now that her eyes adjusted to the dark, Lila noticed how worn the Blaster looked.

Did the Octarian army try to test it's limits or maybe replicate it by taking it apart?

"Dammit Lila! I need you with me!"

"Hmm? Oh yeah right, i'm here."

"Good, now there is no way they won't hear this shot, so on my signal make a run for our ink trail, I'll be right with you."

'U-umm okay."

Once again Lila wasn't doing anything but watching, what did Emily need her for anyways? Why couldn't she just shoot on her own then grab Lila afterwards?

Why did she even need Lila in the first place?

No time to think about that now as Emily Vale mercilessly splatted another one of her former comrades.

As planned, Lila ran with all her might as the nearby Nautilus base reacted instantly to the sound of the Bamboozler.

But she also took her brother's Blaster with her.

Lila changed to squid form and swam with all her might, with fear of being caught and splatted numbing out her fatigue.

The trail of ink she left behind allowed her to outrun the army, but it also meant they could easily track her down.

So as soon as she made it back to the Undercity, Lila ducked into the first building she saw.

"Haahhhh." Lila collapsed to the ground, tired from all the swimming and running.

"Hey, don't rest now."

Lila's heart nearly jumped out of her chest, when did Emily get here?

"We can't hide in the first building we see, this will be the first place they search, come on let's keep moving!"

"Ahhh I can't, too tired…"

"If you don't you'll die."

"Wahhhhh, okay….."

Lila and Emily ran further into the undercity.

If they could get closer to a battle, the Octarian army would be drawn away by the New Octopolis army.

With that in mind, Lila ran towards the sound of Octoshots.

* * *

"Ma'am the trail ends here."

"Don't just stand there! Fan out and search!"

"Yes ma'am!"

After losing yet another Elite Octoling, forces from Nautilus base were determined to catch whoever was behind this.

This time the unknown assailant had the guts to get so close to their main base, they even knew where the Elite Octoling would be at the time.

Whoever it was seemed to know the Octarian army well, it had to be someone who was previously in the army.

"Status report?" the Elite Octoling in charge heard over her earpiece.

"Acting Leader! We're currently hot on the trail of whoever has been picking off the Elites, just give us a bit more time."

"I can do better, I can give you an eye in the sky."

"Hmm? I thought all our saucers were blasted by that New Octopolis Octostriker."

"Yes all of ours, but not the ones of the Reserve army, one saucer is being retasked to you right now."

"Understood, thank you ma'am."

"Don't lose them, catch whoever is responsable, but if they meet up with the New Octopolis army, let them go."

"Let them go?"

"Yes, let them go. Haven't you noticed yet? The New Octopolis army's new leader isn't as clever as Vale, she does put up a good fight, but she forgets one important thing."

* * *

Lila ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

Only problem was that they were slowly giving way, she was exhausted, never in her life did she run so much.

"Huff huff" Her lungs felt like they would explode, she was breathing so fast her nose felt numb.

How much further to the New Octopolis controlled territory?

Lila pushed herself to move forward, she pushed her body to it's very limit.

She wasn't even keeping track of where she was anymore.

Emily was nowhere to be seen.

There had been a saucer flying around earlier but it didn't seem to notice her.

She could hear shouting coming from behind.

Was there a fight? Did the New Octopolis army see her?

She didn't care, she was too tired.

Ducking into an alleyway, Lila sat down and closed her eyes, she only intended to rest for a little while, but after running so much, she passed out almost immediately, falling into a deep sleep while clutching Laven's Blaster.

She completely missed the sight of Inker, Victoria and Lynn fighting the squad of Octarians that was tracking her down.

They had noticed the Octarian saucer flying about and found the squad scouring the buildings of the Undercity.

Since Victoria hadn't ordered any other splatoons to go this far into the Undercity, she knew that the army had to be chasing someone else.

It had to be who they were looking for; Lila.

Lynn wasn't all that confident in her skills, but Inker and Victoria sure were.

The two made quick work of the few Octotroopers searching for Lila.

They noticed the Octarian saucer above them speed away, probably going to grab reinforcements.

"That saucer is from the reserve army, if they are close by we will be easily overan, let's find Lila quick and get out of here." Victoria noted

"Got it!"

"O-okay!"

Lynn, Inker and Victoria split up, shooting ink everywhere as they moved without even trying to conceal their movements.

They shot, ran and swam in different directions, before Lynn found the little Inkling.

"I found her!"

Inker and Victoria quickly made their way towards Lynn.

Lila was in a deep sleep, so Lynn gently picked her up, she was still clutching Laven's Blaster as she lay sleeping in Lynn's arms "I've found the Inkling, but where's the captain?" Lynn asked

"She's here." Victoria said "Just get Lila back to base first.

"Huh? Inker asked "What about Captain Vale?"

"What about her?" Victoria asked confused.

Inker should have known already, after all Victoria did show him the footage from the Elite's goggles.

"Ahh right…" Victoria suddenly recalled how they were interrupted by Kal shortly after Inker saw Lila in the recording, he didn't see what Lila did after.

"I should have shown you the whole video." Victoria muttered.

"Uhh"

"It's all because Kal distracted us and I forgot!" Victoria complained "Look, we won't find Captain Vale because she was never here!"

"What?" Lynn and Inker cried in unison.

"I don't know what happened, but Captain Vale really is dead, I can't explain it any better so let's just head back to the lair, I think only Lila herself can explain."

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

"Ahh Lila!" Kal exclaimed, seeing Inker, Victoria and Lynn return with the familiar purple girl.

"Is she okay?"

"Yes she's fine." Lynn said, still holding Lila "U-umm she's probably just tired so can we put her down somewhere?"

"Right! I'll get Violet to prepare the infirmary." Victoria said.

When Lila woke up she noticed everyone around her

Agent 3, Lynn, Kalus, Victoria and a purple Octoling she hadn't seen before.

"Where am I?" She asked

"The main base of the New Octopolis army." Victoria said,

"Lila? Are you okay? Why did you leave Inkopolis?" Kal asked

"Hmm Kal?"

"Yes can you please explain what you did? I'm having a hard time understanding myself." Victoria added

"Umm, it was Emily, she showed up at the orphanage and told me she needed me to prevent what happened to Laven from happening again." Lila explained.

"Ehh! The captain is still alive?!" Lynn exclaimed, drawing the attention of nearby Octarians

"What?!"

"The captain is alive?!"

Former subordinates of Emily Vale were drawn to Lynn's outburst, all staring at Lila with expectation.

Even Eliza showed up "Hey this isn't some practical joke is it?" she asked, eying Agent 3.

"Yes! She was there! With me! She took Cap'n Cuttlefish's weapon and was hunting down Elite Octolings!" Lila said.

But Victoria shook her head.

"That's not what happened, Lila, Emily Vale has been dead for weeks now."

"HUH!?" the sound of various confused Octariansechoed through the lair.

"That's not true! She was there!" Lila insisted

"No she wasn't." Victoria replied "We found the goggles, we've seen what you did."

"Me?"

"Yes you, don't you remember that one Elite Octoling you jumped?"

"I don't remember such a thing."

"Well what do you remember?"

"Hmmm, Emily and I had been around the Undercity for a while, splatting Elite Octolings from afar."

"What about the one that was beat up, before being splatted?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, Emily said she had a bone to pick with her, so she.."

"Wrong, just what did Captain Vale do to you?"

"Huh?"

Lila was confused, as was everyone else.

Except for Eliza and Victoria who had seen everything on the Elite's goggles.

"I have no idea how to explain it." Eliza said.

"Neither do I." Victoria added "Can you walk?" she asked Lila.

"Uhh yeah, why?"

"Come with me."

Victoria took Lila to her office, where she had previously shown Inker the footage from the Elite Octoling's goggles.

Kalus, Lynn, Inker and Eliza followed them.

"It wasn't Vale who beat down that Elite Octoling, it was you." Victoria said.

"What do you mean?" Lila asked

"Just watch."

Victoria played the footage.

It showed the Elite out of a run, hearing someone call for an 'Emily' and then spotting Lila in the abandonned building.

Inker had seen all this but he didn't see what happened afterwards.

As for Lila all this was exactly as she remembered it, now all that was left was for Emily to appear out of nowhere and save her, right?

But to Lila's surprise that didn't happen.

Instead Lila watched herself leap forward in a way she never thought possible, with a twisted she knocked the Elite's Octoshot away, then followed up with a second kick to the Elite's abdomen.

She saw herself grab the Elite's arm and twist it, making her drop her weapon.

"_Surprised to see me Lieutenant?"_

Lila remembered Emily saying that back then, so why did it sound like her own voice in this recording?

'What? Who are you?'

Because of the struggle the video became shaky, but for a moment it stabilized as the Elite Octoling got a good look at her assailant

'Inkling?' The Elite exclaimed before being knocked back further.

All they could see was a purple blur as Lila hit the Elite Octoling with a seemingly endless amount of punches and kicks, while also bo=locking any attempt the ELite made to fight back.

It was done with such a level of professionalism that it looks like all of Lila's attacks were linked together as a single combo.

To Inker, Victoria and Lynn, only Captain Vale had been capable of such a thing.

As for Lila she is was Emily? She was supposed to be there.

"You… I don't know what you're up to, but even if I die here, it won't help Inkopolis." The Elite managed to say, between blows. "They are next."

Lila however didn't mind.

"You think that's why i'm here? I don't care about Inkopolis!"

The Elite Octoling, who had been knocked down and suddenly flipped over in a violent motion.

Then she was pinned down by a Bamboozler.

"Take a good look at my face Mckenna? Did you forget who I am?"

"What?"

Because the goggles were recording everything from the Elite Octoling's point of view, everyone had a clear view of the assailant as the Elite Octoling looked up at the face of who was pinned her down.

It was Lila.

"_It's me! Emily Vale! The same one you screwed over back in Octo Canyon."_ Lila shouted

'_No it's ca-"_

The recording ended there as the Elite Octoling was splatted.

Aside from Victoria and Eliza, everyone stared at Lila as if expecting her to explain.

But Lila didn't even know what happened.

She remembered seeing Emily beat down that Elite while trying to get her to remember who she was.

But the Octoling's goggles showed that it was actually her who splatted the Elite while claiming to be Emily?

"What?"

"Can you maybe explain? Why are you going around pretending to be captain Vale? And since when can you even fight like that?" Kal asked

"I-I don't get it! I don't remember doing any of that!"

"Then how do you explain what we just saw?"

"I can't!"

"I can."

Lila heard a familiar voice.

Emily Vale was there, with them in the room.

"Emily?"

Lila saw the former captain step forward, but nobody else saw anything.

To them, they only saw Lila's tone change as she spoke both her lines and those of Emily Vale's.

"I lied to you." Lila said, but it wasn't her speaking. "You let me undo the brainwashing on Lila, but at the time I was looking for a way out, I needed every Elite Octoling gone, including myself to ensure that DJ Octavio wouldn't retain control over Octo Valley."

"Uhh Lila?" Kal asked, confused by her sudden change in attitude.

"Not Lila, Vale." Lila corrected Kalus.

"What?"

"Back in Melanin prison, I started conditioning Lila, but Octavia took her from me before I could finish, when you let me undo her brainwashing, I didn't just undo what Octavia did, but I finished what I started."

"You what?!" Kal and the others were beginning to understand, and Lila kept talking under the guise of Emily Vale.

"The original plan was to get Lila to trust Claire, then I was going to put some of Claire's goals and memories in Lila's head. With enough trust in Claire, Lila would have the goals of the Octarian army in her head, and a second personality guiding her. This kind of mind conditioning is much much more effective than Octavia's and her primitive trigger words."

Lila didn't even look like Lila anymore, instead of her weak and naive self she looked proud and conceited as she went on about what Emily had done to her.

"Unfortunately Claire was killed by the time you left Lila to me, so took that role, I made Lila trust me, then put the goal of splatting the Elite Octolings in her head, along with some of my own memories and personality, of course I didn't put anything risky that might put Lila under Octavio's control. Yes Lila was my way out, this way I could get rid of the Elite Octolings including myself, without putting my splatoon at risk."

Everyone was shocked.

They had no idea such a thing was even possible.

Emily Vale had been much more clever than they imagined.

"So there you have it, I'm not actually Emily Vale, I'm just Lila with a few of Vale's skills memories and goals." Emily concluded.

Lila didn't believe the words coming out of her mouth, but she had seen some hints.

Emily did say she was dead, at the same time when she fought that Elite Octoling Lila felt sore afterwards, finally Emily couldn't shoot that Elite Octoling near Nautilus base when Lila was distracted.

"I'm… I'm sorry to have worried you all." Lila said.

"Is that Lila or Vale talking?" Kal asked

"Umm.. it's me Lila."

On the side a tear ran down Lynn's face.

Inker assumed it was because she had her hopes up that Vale might still be alive, only for those hopes to be dashed.

But Lynn wasn't just sad, she smiled slightly.

"Ahh… the captain…. The captain is still looking out for us from beyond the grave." Lynn said.

Even Eliza looked touched "As subordinates I don't think we could have asked for a better captain."

As for Victoria she was envious of the respect that Vale commanded. _'I wonder if I can be as good as her someday.'_

Meanwhile Inker found himself dreading what might have happened if Vale didn't betray Octavia. _'Planning her own death and still fighting from beyond the grave? Man i'm glad that Vale is on our side.'_

Kal was mad at Vale for playing them, but it was hard to stay mad when Vale and Lila were pretty much the same person now.

No Vale was dead, Lila is just a little something her left behind.

"Well now that that's over, you should head back to Inkopolis." Kal suggested to Lila.

"Oh umm right…"

"... what is it?"

"Well umm, how do I say this, but Octo Valley isn't as scary as it used to be."

"That's Vale talking."

"Not really, I mean I followed Emily here on my own accord."

"Yeah cause she messed with your head."

"I don't know, I feel like I can really help you all." Lila looked around "I see you've recruited much more Octarians to our side. Good job Lynn."

"U-umm, I know you were planning to leave me in charge, but actually Victoria is leading us so you should praise her."

"Then great job Holter, I assume Agent 3 is helping too."

"Yes of course."

"I see I did go through with my plan of training you three after all…"

That didn't sound like Lila

"Alright Vale, change back to Lila already." Kal demanded

"I am Lila."

"I mean just switch back to Lila's normal personality! Seeing Lila act like Captain Vale is just… weird!"

"She has nothing to say right now, but I do… Still I'm impressed, I didn't expect you to gather so many followers in such a short time and still keep them all hidden." Lila continued to praise Victoria.

"It was all thanks to your training."

"Huh, I conditioned Lila before that, so I can't remember any of it." Lila said

Kal on the side didn't like seeing Lila suddenly speaking like Captain Vale.

"Alright, why don't you just head back to Inkopolis, someone like Lila shouldn't be down here in the first place."

"Oh? Are you jealous that Lila can do more than you now?" Lila teased

"No it's just that…" Kal stopped realizing she was right.

He did feel a bit jealous, everyone except him was useful in some way down here.

"Well anyways, I have to congratulate all of you for making it this far with such a large group, I myself would have trouble staying hidden if I had such an army with me."

"Oh we don't need to stay hidden anymore." Victoria bragged "we've been whittling down the Octarian army bit by bit, in fact our numbers should be the same by now, and we still have lots of supporters in the Undercity."

"Wait what?"

"Yeah we don't have enough weapons and armor to equip everyone so we ha-"

"No not that, did you say you were trying to hide anymore?"

"Yeah, we're almost on par with the Octarain army, so there is no need-"

"Holter!" Lila as Captain Vale interrupted "Did you forget about the Reserve army!?"

Lila's words made Lynn and Eliza wide eyed, along with all the other Octarians watching, they all turned to VIctoria who stood frozen in shock.

"...Ah…."

Victoria had completely forgotten that there was a reserve army.

There was so much pressure on her after she started leading such a massive movement she let a few things slip her mind.

"Eliza… go check on the status of the splatoon in the Undercity."

"Yes ma'am."

Eliza ran off.

"Kal you should head back to Inkopolis." Victoria suggested

"Huh?"

"Head back to Inkopolis."

"No way, I can-"

"You can what? Things aren't going as good as I had thought, you can get in the way here so do me a favor and head back to Inkopolis!"

Victoria just confirmed what Kal was afraid off.

'_I really am useless down here, aren't I?'_

He wasn't an Agent like Inker.

He wasn't an Octarian like Victoria.

He wasn't bilingual like Sky

Now Lila was also more useful than him.

Why did he come here in the first place?

Octo Valley wasn't Inkopolis, it was a cruel and frightening place.

Those that came here always had a reason.

What was his?

"...Okay…"

A dejected Kal left the room.

"A-ahhh wait hold on, there must be a misunderstanding, see the Victoria really-"

Kal cut off Lynn's attempt to console him "Forget it Lynn, I'm not a soldier nor an Agent, I'm useless down here."

He had already been feeling out of place, time for him to go.

Victoria watched Kal leave, at first she was wondering why he looked so sad, only to then realized she was a bit too harsh.

There was so much stress on her that she made it seem like she didn't want Kal around.

"Ahh no! I didn't mean it like that! I just don't want you to get hurt!" Victoria shouted after Kal, but he was long gone.

For a brief moment Victoria considered chasing after him, but someone stopped her.

It was Lila, still in Captain Vale personality.

"Leave it, we are soldiers, we can only keep pushing forward after making mistakes.'

Victoria looked in the direction where Kal was last seen.

"You're right. The whole New Octopolis army is counting on me."

Though it didn't sit right with her, Victoria ignored Kal and instead waiting for Eliza to return.

"Bad news, the groups in the Undercity will have to fend for themselves, the Octarian army in marching through the Undercity and the reserve army is blocking anyone from leaving. Eliza reported

"Then gather everyone you can and find weaknesses in their blockade, clear the way for our Octopi in the Undercity." Victoria ordered

""Yes ma'am."

However before Eliza could leave, Kevin arrived.

"Yo Victoria, there are saucers above the lair."

"What?"

Inker, Victoria, Lynn and Lila followed Kevin outside.

There were Octarian saucers everywhere.

"So many…"

"What should we do?"

"What else? Evacuate the lair!"


	43. Life's Greatest Challenge

**Inkopolis Plaza**

It took a few hours, but eventually Kalus had returned to the city of colour.

The familiar sight of Inkopolis Plaza did little to ease his mind.

The feelings of foreboding and angst as he helplessly returned to Inkopolis, leaving Inker, Sky and most importantly Victoria behind.

Of course he wouldn't be much help if he stayed.

'_Gahhh! I want to go back! I want to go back and help them! Why am I so useless all of a sudden?'_

It was times like this which made Kal wish he was someone else, somebody who had some great skill or outstanding talent who could go back to Octo Valley and make a difference.

But of course he couldn't be anyone else but himself, who had just been shooed out of Octo Valley like a bad smell.

And by Victoria too.

It really didn't sit right with him, Kal thought he was a great help in the past, that he and Victoria had something going…

They understood each other and looked out for each other, so Kal really didn't get why Victoria made him leave.

Making his way down the Plaza, Kal realized how long it had been since he last returned to Inkopolis.

The sight of Inkopolis Tower among the city lights was somewhat refreshing, it reminded him of his usual life before he was dragged into this conflict between Octo Valley and Inkopolis.

Everything had been perfect, the good fun and easy income from Turf Wars with his childhood friend Inker, a hyperactive Neon and a quiet Sky.

It was fun and games, everyday felt like a vacation, there was rarely anything bad happening.

'_Now that I think about it, it was kind of boring… But on the plus side I never felt bad or unwanted..'_

As he began to wonder how he ended up here, Kal finally realized how dark it was outside.

He had been in Octo Valley so long he had almost forgotten that there was supposed to be a sun up during the day.

'_What time is it?' _Kal wondered, he didn't have a near perfect sense of time like Victoria and the other Octarians, so he had quickly lost track of time after spending a week In Octo Valley.

He instinctively reached into his pocket for his squid phone, then he recalled the battery had died weeks ago, after all Captain Vale's guerilla hideout had no place to plug in a phone.

'_Well guess I'll head home then…'_

Kal made sure to check the time as soon as he got home, 5:40 AM too early for any Inkling to be up.

Then he looked at his house.

It had been so long since Kal was last home.

A quiet place all too himself…

Kal sighed and lay down on his couch.

The Octarians didn't have this kind of luxury, from what Kal had seen they often had to find 'roommates' to split the bills.

The concept of 'roommates' was completely absent from Inkopolis, which was so prosperous since the Great Turf war that Inklings as young 14 years old could live by themselves on Turf War earnings.

Kal was still thinking about Octo Valley, only after thinking about their living conditions did he remember that he had been in Octo Valley for over a month without returning home to pay his bills and check in with his family.

Kal leapt to his feet and hurried to his laptop, checking his email, bank account, skitter and freshbook.

Once he was done catching up it was almost 8 in the morning.

Still too early for any Inkling to be up.

But after Octo Valley, where everyone would often be up by 7, Kal was ready for the day to start, even though he just went a night with no sleep.

Oh well, not like he hadn't pulled an all-nighter before.

But there was one other reason he wanted the day to start already…

Yes there was news about it everywhere he looked.

Today was the Squid Sisters' final splatfest…

Even if he wanted to take a quick nap and rest up for the day, Kal couldn't, not after seeing so much mention of this 'grand finale' on social media.

One last Splatfest to end it all…

If anything could get his mind off of Octo Valley this was it.

* * *

"I knew this day would come…"

"The Splatfest to end all Splatfests…"

Almost the entire city of Inkopolis were eagerly watching Callie and Marie announce the beginning of the final splatfest.

"Without further ado, let's introduce the teams... " Callie smiled and jabbed her thumbs towards herself "She's the winningest squid sister in Splatfest history: CALLIE!"

"Versus the only squid sister who isn't boring: MARIE!" Maire added.

In response Callie placed her hands on her hips, and calmly said "You know I'm going to be the bigger squid today.. That's why I'm going Team Marie!"

Marie chuckled "Glad you've seen the light, teammate. Go Team Marie!"

"HEY! But that means you have to go Team Callie!"

"Yeah right, I'd rather give DJ Octavio a sponge bath."

"That's it! Team Callie is going to bury you! You and your grey hair are going DOWN, grandma!'

Marie didn't say anything in reply, as she and Callie turned to the screen.

"What about you at home? Who's side are you on?" Callie asked

"Head over to the pledge box and don't be dumb!" Marie finished

The Final Splatfest had begun.

Kal realized it was all thanks to sheer luck that he would return just in time to see it start.

Waves of young Inklings made their way to the pledge boxes and swarmed to Inkopolis tower for their Splatfest matches.

Among them was Kal, though he did often use different gear sets he was most familiar with the Slosher, since this was the final splatfest he was going to give it his all, there was no reason not to bring his weapon of choice.

But when he made it to the pledge box he came across a bit of a dilemma.

'_Who should I pick? Callie or Marie? I never really liked one over the other, should I just pick whoever is most likely to win? Actually who would be most likely to win here?'_

Kal took a step back from the large crowd in front of the pledge box to think.

Octo Valley was completely off his mind.

As he was deep in thought, a familiar face crept up behind him.

"Boo!"

Kal suddenly felt someone grab his shoulders from behind.

"HOOOOAHHH!" Kal shouted, spinning around to see a bright green Inkling girl bursting with laughter.

"Hahaha! What is 'hoooahhh'?! I swear you have the silliest scream of all time! haha!"

"Neon! Seriously you can't just say hi like a normal squid?"

"I could, but where's the fun in that?"

Like Kal, Neon brought the equipment she was most proficient with.

Kal saw her proudly brandishing her Custom E-Liter 3K, unscoped of course, as Neon not only had great eyesight but had developed her aim to a point where she was better off without one.

She wore a Dark Urban vest, which Kal assumed she had rerolled alot to perfectly suit her needs, as for headgear…

"Hey, you're still wearing the Hero Headset?" Kal had left his at home as he didn't want to be reminded of Octo Valley.

"Yeah! I told you I was going to stay tuned, gotta know if you guys are ever in trouble!" Neon puffed her chest out with pride, not realizing she just shamelessly admitted to eavesdropping on Inker the whole time she was gone.

"Won't other Inklings find it suspicious that you are wearing some never before seen headgear in turf?" Kal asked

"Nah, I just say it's rare gear, as long as it's fresh nobody questions it much. But anyways whatcha doing just standing around? It's the Final Splatfest you know! Splatfest battles all day and night!" Neon was bouncing with excitement, she looked ready to charge into Inkopolis tower.

"Umm, I'm actually having trouble choose Callie or Marie, who did you pick?"

"Oh me? Marie of course! I saw her using a Charger in Octo Valley so us Chargers gotta stick together!" Neon declared. "Also I'm pretty sure Marie is getting the popularity vote, not by much though."

That last sentence made Kal tilt slightly towards choosing Marie's team, Neon had won every splatfest in the past so it wasn't unlikely for whichever team Neon picked to win again.

'_Right, if Neon puts her mind to something she can get it done. I doubt whichever side she picked is going to lose.'_ Kal thought.

"Oh by the way Sky should be back right? If you came back then Sky should be back too right? Sky lost the last splatfest so I'm going to force him to pick my team!"

"Since when was-" Kal was about to retort but thinking about how Sky made him remember how well he fit in with Octo Valley. "He's staying in Octo Valley."

"Whaaaat? That guy is really staying there? Even though he was so afraid before?"

"What can I say, ever since he learned to speak Octarian he's been really popular with the Octarians, he and Inker are always mobbed by Octolings, Octotroopers and any other Octarian."

"Aww so he's missing the Splatfest, oh right and what about Inker?"

"Still fighting alongside Victoria and Lynn."

"Then why are you here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what about Victoria?"

"For the last time we aren't dating!"

"Not yet."

Kal sighed "Are you going to bring this up everytime I see you?"

"Until it gets boring, yes!"

"You know what I'm just going to pick a team."

"Yeah you do that! Oh by the way, what's going on in Octo Valley? I'm hearing a lot of shouting and other noises through the hero headset… ahhh that's really loud! How do I mute this thing!?"

Kal didn't want to talk about it.

"Don't ask me, I'm out of my league in Octo Valley anyways."

Neon noticed how Kal looked sad when Octo Valley was brought up.

She did hear some sort of argument between Kal and Victoria through her headset but it didn't seem like anything big to her.

So since she couldn't understand, Neon shrugged it off and headed straight for Inkopolis Tower, leaving Kal to the pledge box.

As for Kal, what Neon said brought Octo Valley back into his mind for a brief moment.

Were they in trouble? Neon mentioned lots of noise.

'_Oh well, they're probably better off without me anyways.'_

* * *

**Octo Valley**

"Dammit there's way too many!" Inker said as he sent a seeker towards a group of Octotroopers while dueling an Octoling.

"I've just lost third squad, that's half my splatoon gone now! We're pulling back!" Eliza shouted.

"Don't! Not yet, just hold for a little longer." Victoria ordered

"They'll be nothing left of us if we stay!" Kevin replied

Inker, Eliza, Victoria, Kevin and any other combat ready Octarian from the New Octopolis army was currently fighting the Octarian army, which had been reinforced by the Octarian's reserve army.

Victoria had made a fatal mistake, completely forgetting that Octavio had a reserve army in Octo Canyon in case Octo Valley ever needed to be abandoned.

Then again she was thrust into a leadership position so suddenly it was a surprise she made it this far to begin with.

"Lynn? Lynn! Come in? What's the status on the others?" Victoria shouted into her earpiece.

"I can't seem to contact them, either they've already been defeated or the Octarian army is jamming our communications." Lynn replied

"Dammit, we can't hold them off any longer, this hideout is lost, evacuate the lair."

"Y-yes ma'am!"

Lynn immediately ran to every corner of the lair, shouting that they had to leave quickly.

"Lynn what's going on?"

"Ahh Violet, we're evacuating, the Octarian army has almost reached the kettle."

Violet was not a fighter, so hearing that the Octarian army was so close sent a shiver down her back.

But she couldn't afford to waste time.

There were sick and wounded Octarians in the infirmary and lots of kids running around the lair too.

All the refugees who had no choice but to leave the Undercity once Octavia started targeting them for being related to someone in Vale's splatoon.

"I need a pair of hands! Someone help me get him on this stretcher." one Octoling shouted

"Screw this! I'm outta here!" another said.

There was no possible way this could be called an organized evacuation.

Some like Violet tried to help the ones who had trouble walking to leave the lair, others just dropped everything they had and ran.

Those who did quickly realized they had nowhere to go.

The Octarian army was not only pushing back Victoria and the others, but were also slowly enveloping what bit of resistance Victoria and the others could muster.

From the sky, Kevin was able to see it coming.

"Yo Victoria! They're trying to surround us!"

"What?!"

As the fighting continued it was clear that there was no way the New Octopolis army could win this one.

"Hmmm, I don't think my past self planned for this."

"Ummm can I go home then? This is scary."

Lila, constantly switching personalities with Vale appeared to have a conversation with herself.

"You should get back to Inkopolis." Inker said

"No I'm not leaving my troops behind." Lila insisted, though it was really Emily Vale talking.

"We should go! I don't want to meet Laven on the other side of the river yet!" Lila said.

Having some sort of internal conflict, Lila didn't run nor fight but rather she just idled there.

As for Victoria she had just called the retreat.

"Retreat? But to where?" Eliza asked

"I don't know! Let's just get out of here!" Victoria shouted

Inker had an idea, he called for Cap'n Cuttlefish through his hero suit.

"Cap'n? Cap'n!"

No reply

"Don't tell me he's sleeping in."

He tried a few more times but to no avail, he didn't know what time it was in Inkopolis, but why did the Cap'n have to be unavailable at this time?

Inker concidered going back to his shack himself and waking him up, but if he did, Victoria and the others would lose a key fighter.

Luckily there was someone nearby who was doing nothing due to her condition.

"Lila! Go back to Cuttlefish's shack and wake him up, let him know we're coming to him."

"Ahh okay! Come on Emily, Agent 3 is telling us to leave." "You better have something in mind Agent 3! Hey now we need to run, forget about the weapons." B-but this is my only memory of Laven."

It seemed like Vale's mind conditioning for Lila wasn't perfect after all.

Lila had yet another internal conflict between her and Vale's priorities, with Vale wanting to drop everything to reach Cuttlefish quicker, while Lila insisted on carrying the Blaster she found.

"Just leave it with me, I'll take good care of it!" Victoria cut in, wet with ink.

"No I don't want to!"

"I've helped you and Kal before haven't I? Don't worry I won't keep it for myself."

"Just leave it already!" Lila shouted to herself "Okay fine!"

Ditching Cuttlefish's Bamboozler and entrusting Laven's Blaster to Victoria, Lila hurried towards Cuttlefish's shack.

Victoria sent another message to anyone still listening

"Listen up, we are almost completely surrounded, don't try to escape to the Undercity nor Octo Canyon or anywhere! The only safe place now is backwards towards Inkopolis. If you can hear me head towards the manhole to Inkopolis!"

Inker followed with his own message

"Sky! We've lost the lair, get out as quick as you can!"

Of course he couldn't hear Sky reply as he didn't have a hero suit of his own.

Inker hoped Sky could evacuate in time.

"Hey Victoria! If we keep this up we'll be completely surrounded!" Eliza said

"We need to buy more time for Lynn to evacuate the lair!"

"There is no time! Come on Vic, we gotta live to fight again tomorrow!" Kevin insisted.

"I agree, I'd stay for longer but I doubt the Hero suit can handle another respawn!" Inker added

"Alright! I get it, run for it before we get completely encircled!"

Following that Victoria, Inker, Eliza, Kevin and any surviving Octarians ran in the direction of Inkopolis.

Some dropped their weapons to lighten their load, others hung on to them.

Victoria even had to leave her Octoshot behind in order to keep her promise and hold on to the Blaster Lila trusted her with.

'_Well she didn't say I couldn't use it.'_ Victoria thought, figuring she would just have to use the Blaster from now on.

* * *

As for Lynn she tried to direct a proper evacuation but it wasn't working.

It was a mess, though many had made it out of the lair, others had yet to leave.

But the Octarian army was closing in quick, there wasn't anything she could do.

Lynn and many of the remaining Octarians in the hideout bolted.

Lynn really didn't want to leave so early, but she would have died if she stayed.

She figured that after regrouping with the others, they could try and break through to the lair again and rescue anyone they left behind.

Assuming that Octavia didn't capture and move them all, or worse had them all executed like Claire.

* * *

**Parliament building, Inkopolis**

Today was the day of what was rumored to be the last Splatfestival ever.

As such pretty much all of Inkopolis was busy celebrating, even some of the Inkopolis government was taking it easy today.

But it didn't last long, because of one call that Defense Minister Arcus made to the prime minister.

"That situation I told you about, the one in Octo Valley, it's escalating quicker than expected, also it's coming straight for us." Arcus said

"What are you talking about, are the Octarians suddenly marching on us again?" Prime Minister Steenson asked.

"Well not exactly, it appears that the Octarian army has managed to push the rebelling Octarians back and overrun their main base of operations. At the same time they've blocked off any route out of Octo Valley, so that means the retreating rebels have only one place to go, to Inkopolis."

"Hold on, are you suggesting we should shelter the rebelling Octarians?"

"Even if we don't they'll try and if they get here the Octarian army will follow them shortly after."

"I'm not having a war on the streets, why don't you just have the IPD block off both sides of the manhole to Octo Valley?"

"If we deny them entry they might get desperate and force their way through and if they don't the Inklingphobic Octarian army will probably splat everyone, including our boys in blue."

Of course Arcus didn't mention how Cuttlefish had been able to seal the manhole before, the reasoning was quite obvious.

He was trying to help his role model, the Cap'n of the New Squidbeak Splatoon.

"Also keep in mind that half of the manhole counts as Octarian territory, considering the Octarian army's hostile nature towards us, if we send any IPD officers to the other side or try to tamper with the manhole, they could label it as a violation of their borders and use it as an excuse to start another war."

"Alright fine, gather everyone, situation room, ten minutes." Steenson said

'_What a headache'_

Another crisis involving Octo Valley had made its way to his door, why couldn't it wait for other prime ministers?

* * *

**Guerilla hideout, Octo Valley**

Sky heard Inker's message, he tried to get out, but the evacuation was far too chaotic.

There was so much pushing and shoving as the refugees and unarmed volunteers tried to escape back out of the tiny kettle all at once.

Sky was shoved around by everyone, and what was worse were the rolling Octoballs who left ink behind them as they rolled out.

It helped the Octarians, but not Sky who didn't have the same colour of Ink.

Walking out of the lair felt like he was trudging through a muddy swamp, his feet sank into the ground with every step.

He originally planned on leaving everything he brought behind to lighten his load, but now that he was getting nowhere fast, Sky went back for his Roller.

"Sorry! Excuse me! Coming through!" Sky said as he tried to make a path with his own cyan coloured ink.

Though this was also a problem as the wide roller could easily splat some poor Octarian who got in the way.

The Roller didn't help at all.

Sky had to walk through magenta coloured ink, struggling to lift his feet every step he took.

But just as he was getting close to the exit.

"Ahh! They're here! Run!" Someone shouted

The Octarian army had reached the lair.

The remaining Octarians went into a panic, some surrendered right away while others scrambled to hide in the lair.

Every creature for themselves.

Sky, stuck in a pool of magenta, didn't have the time to worry about friendly fire, he rolled his Roller in front of him to clear the magenta ink, then he ran deeper into the lair.

Behind him, he could hear the Octarian army arrive, nabbing the surrendered Octarians.

"There could be more hiding! Fan out and search!" he heard someone say.

Sky didn't stop to look back, if the Octarian army was willing to execute their own kind for treason, there was no telling what they'd do to a poor little Inkling like him. He ran as quickly as he could to find a hiding spot.

The room that was previously reserved for him, Kal and Inker was the first place he thought of, it was pretty far back into the lair and pretty insignificant as well, so it hopefully wouldn't draw much attention.

He could be safe, for a little while longer.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

"Is this really everyone we have left?" Victoria asked Lynn and Eliza.

"Seems so, the splatoons caught in the Undercity couldn't make it out." Eliza said

"U-umm, I'm sorry but the evacuation was a mess and I think many were left behind." Lynn added

"Really?" Victoria was disappointed in herself, "Well it's all up to Cuttlefish and Arcus now."

"Are we really just going to hide in Inkopolis? I mean I don't look Inkling in the least." Eliza said.

"The manhole is a bottleneck, if they let us in through the other side we might actually stand a chance."

"So all we can do is sit in Inkopolis and wait for them to come to us?"

"Unfortunately yes, but we must be allowed in first."

The New Octopolis army she created was reduced to a sorry state.

At its peak it had enough volunteers to populate half the Undercity, but they never had the resources to properly equip everyone.

Now after barely a month of fighting it was only hanging on by a slim thread, one that the Inkopolis government could cut at their will.

After making sure that Arcus knew everything he had to know, Inker began to check on everyone.

Lynn was unhurt, Eliza was tired but doing her best to hide it while in his presence, Victoria was making sure the younger Octolings didn't run off.

Victoria was well, sadden by how things turned out, but she was still fine.

Lila was safe as well, having returned to Inkopolis with Cuttlefish earlier.

"Sky? Sky! Are you there! Has anyone seen my friend Sky!?"

Inker could not find Sky anywhere.

He should have had enough time to escape, Lynn was told to start evacuating way before they were overrun.

"Lynn, did you see Sky evacuate the hideout?" Inker asked

"U-ummm, I'm sorry Agent 3, I'm not sure."

"Not sure?"

"I'm really sorry! It was so difficult, the Octarian army was so close that everyone was in a panic, there was a huge struggle and well, It wasn't really an evacuation at all, rather everyone just happened to run in the same direction."

"What? So that means Sky was left behind?"

"I couldn't get everyone out, There were alot of us left behind, maybe now that we've regrouped we could try and go back?" Lynn suggested, but Inker already left.

"Hey where are you going!" Victoria grabbed Inker as he tried to rush off.

"I gotta find Sky."

"Stop trying to do things on your own!, you'll never make it past the Octarian army."

"I have to try."

"Didn't you say you were out of respawns? Wait for me to get everyone formed up!"

"Yes don't do dumb things. You're Agent 3, aren't you supposed to know better? What kind of idiot thinks they can take on the whole Octarian army by themselves?" Eliza scolded Inker.

"I.. fine, but please hurry."

Inker understood why Victoria forced Kal back to Inkopolis now, now he wished that Sky had gone with him.

He didn't want to lose a friend to Octo Valley.

Inker glanced around, anxious to get back to the lair.

"Sky?"

For a moment Inker swore he saw a dash of cyan among the Octarians.

He hurried over but saw no sign of Sky.

'_What a kid.'_ Eliza thought, seeing Inker chase after nothing.

"Are you seeing things now? As much as I would like you to taste the feeling of loss just as I have when I lost Eileen, you should stop embarrassing yourself." Eliza commented.

"Yeah you're right, all I can do is wait." Inker sighed

* * *

**Parliament building, Inkopolis**

"No you're not listening to me, we simply don't have the time to convert the IPD into an army." Arcus said in response to another minister's suggestion

"Well we also can't just let Octarians come into Inkopolis as they please, as the minister of foreign affairs I say letting the rebelling Octarians in is a bad idea, unless you want us to get on the Octarian government's bad side."

"The Octarian government is a military one, plus you've seen it's expansionist agenda, you think they won't aim for us just cause we block off a few rebels?" Arcus argued

"Harting has a point, though the problem now would be the location of the manhole, Inkopolis Plaza which is currently hosting the final splatfest." the Inkopolis culture minister said.

"We could just escort the rebelling Octarians away as soon as they arrive." another minister suggested

"That would give the Octarian army a reason to storm into the plaza."

"Why not just give a part of the plaza to the Octarians for them to set up camp?"

"Have you seen the crowds for the final splatfest? No way we can part them without starting a riot."

Considering everything Arcus told him, Steenson was leaning towards the idea that had just been suggested.

"The manhole is technically the border between Inkopolis and Octo Valley right? Why don't we just move that border back a bit, only temporarily though."

This way the rebelling Octarians would have somewhere to retreat that would put them at an advantage, then they could whittle down the Octarian Army while providing a buffer zone between Inkopolis and the Octarian army.

"You're saying we give part of Inkopolis Plaza to the Octarian army."

"No, why not give it to the New Octopolis rebels?"

"Hold on, you want to start an Octarian settlement inside Inkopolis' most popular spot?"

Arcus wanted the discussion to keep somewhere in that direction.

"How about we make an agreement that Inkopolis is remaining neutral to the conflict but are setting up a perimeter around Inkopolis Plaza just in case? Allow the rebels in without ceeding territory and at the same time gaining an extra layer of defense against the Octarian army."

"How are we supposed to do that with the Final Splatfest going on?"

"We'll just have to move it somewhere else."

"No." Prime Minister Steenson put his foot down "Though I'm inclined to agree with Hilgendorf's idea, we can't just stop or move the Final Splatfest. So we will wait until the Final Splatfest ends before letting anyone through."

"What? So we are just going to pretend nothing's happening?" Arcus asked

"Listen, the whole Vanguard crisis in the past already hurt our reputation, if we interrupt the Final Splatfest our approval rating will drop and we will lose the upcoming election. Arcus you seem strangely concerned with this Octarian civil war, if it drags out and we lose the election a new minister might end up making unfavorable changes to deal with the situation. Would you want that?"

"Of course not… I see, so we just have to wait out the Splatfest? Fine, I'll get the IPD to be ready as soon as it ends."

* * *

**Guerilla Hideout, Octo Valley**

Sky hid under a bed in squid form.

He could hear voices from the Octarian army soldiers as they searched the lair for anyone else who couldn't evacuate.

Some were still hiding, others were caught and captured.

Everytime he heard a noise Sky would stiffen, he was no soldier nor a decent fighter.

In fact out of everyone he knew, he was probably the worst at Turf Wars.

He didn't stand a chance here.

Sky's heart pounded as he watched more Octarians pass by.

A few had already checked this room but luckily they didn't think to check under the bunk beds.

Sky tried not to think about what would happen if he were caught.

Keyword 'tried' because Sky ended up imagining various terrible things done to him by the Octarian army.

Curled up in squid form, Sky lay silent for the longest time, too scared to move even his eyes, even blinking made him nervous as he feared he would open his eyes to see an Octotrooper staring him in the face.

Soon there was a voice over his hero headset.

"Sky? I hope you can hear me, were on our way but there are still too many Octarian Army troops surrounding the lair, even if we get to you we won't be able to make it out, you're on you're own for now."

Not the news he was hoping to hear.

"Hey this should be everyone right?" Sky overheard someone say. "We haven't found anyone for the past hour."

"Maybe, but the Elites want us to keep looking, apparently the New Octopolis army is trying to retake the lair, there might still be someone left here."

"Or something important."

"Either way we're stuck playing hide and seek."

"Well better than getting splatted that's for sure."

Sky assumed this meant the Octarians had yet to leave.

It was only a matter of time before they found him.

Sky wondered if there was anyone else left in the lair with him.

'_If I stay here they'll find me eventually, as Inker said I guess I have to find my own way out.'_

Taking care not to make noise, Sky crawled out of hiding, he nervously changed back out of squid form and glanced around.

Nobody there?

Trembling, he walked out of the room and quickly scanned his surroundings.

He did notice some Octarians standing around, but luckily they were facing the other way.

Sky made his way through the lair towards the exit.

There were significantly less Octarians here now, as they were drawn back out to fight Inker and the rest of the New Octopolis army trying to rescue Sky and the others left behind.

Slowly but surely Sky made his way towards the lair exit.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Sky flinched, he was sure he had just been caught.

"Me I'm uhh, guarding the exit." Sky heard a second voice.

Sky breathed a sigh of relief as he realized it was just two Octotroopers talking by the exit.

'_No wait this was bad.'_

If there was someone watching the exit, Sky couldn't leave.

"Guarding the exit, you mean sitting on your butt while we do all the work."

"Say what you want, this role is like, super important you know."

"Then I'll take over and you go search this empty lair."

"No."

Everything the troopers said was within earshot.

Sky listened to them banter on for a while but then a third voice popped up.

"Hey you two, how long have you been standing there?"

"O-oh umm, I just got here."

"He's lying, he hasn't moved ever since we started searching."

"No umm, I'm not the one lyi-"

"Good job."

"Good job!?"

"Tell me did you see anyone take an Inkling out of the lair?"

The mention of Inkling made Sky freeze.

The voices drowned out as Sky panicked, his mind racing to try and find some sort of comfort, may it be a delusion or somewhere to hide.

Then Sky realized he hadn't brought his Roller along.

Maybe that's why they were mentioning an Inkling, maybe they found the Roller with fresh cyan ink left on it.

Sky gulped, he probably shouldn't have come out of hiding.

Realizing that they were now aware of his presence, Sky froze up.

He could hear the Octarians telling each other to split up and search for an Inkling.

Since Sky was already so close they found him in no time.

Sky found himself facing an Octotrooper.

"..."

"..Please don't." Sky begged

The trooper smiled "Hey guys I've found him!"

And just like that Sky was caught.

As more Octotroopers and Octolings surrounded him, Sky could no longer move.

He stared up at the Octarians.

Frozen with fear, Sky didn't even hear what the Octarians were saying.

They must have been ordering him to stand up, because he was kicked when he didn't move.

Sky fell down on his side like a ragdoll, his body too weak with fear to follow his mind.

All Sky could see was the Octarian army, the shiny barrels of their weapons aimed at him.

Sky had gotten so comfortable in the past weeks that he forgot about how scary Octo Valley was.

If given another chance, he would never have come here.

He looked into the eyes of the Octarians standing over him.

Then suddenly, one of the Octarians noticed something else.

Sky didn't hear anything, but there was a flash of cyan and all the Octarians in front of him vanished.

'_What was that?'_ Sky was still lying on the ground, but the fear was gone and replaced with shock.

What had just happened?

"Ahh I've found you! Thank Kraken you're okay! No literally thank the Kraken!"

Coming out of Kraken form and hugging him was a cheerful cyan Inkling girl.

Though she sounded really familiar.

"Ne-Ne Neon?" Sky said, still trembling.

"I arrived just in time didn't I? Come on let's go now!"

"Why… W-When did you get here?"

"I heard everything over the Hero Headset, you didn't think I would actually forget about you all.. did you? Ahh hold on, more Octarians are coming, those guys are really persistent to chase me all the way here." Neon said, facing the lair exit.

As Neon stood in front of Sky protectively and charged her E-Liter, Sky had many more questions.

"I thought you weren't coming back until after the Final Splatfest! And why are you my colour?"

"I gave the Inkopolis Tower staff some money to use the Colourizer outside of Turf Wars, how else?" Neon said, simultaneously blasting an Octotrooper "Woomy!"

"You bribed them?! No wait it, takes half a day to get here, you're going to miss out on the last Splatfest?!"

Neon paused for a second.

"Geez I don't know who started that silly rumor, but I want to smack them. Splatfest is a big part of our culture, just cause the Squid Sisters are leaving doesn't mean it will just end."

"B-but, you left so early to participate... It meant so much to you…"

"It does, but well…" Neon shot another Octotrooper, then an Octoling, before either of them could even get close enough to shoot "Heh... Someone once told me that life's greatest challenge was choosing between two things that mean everything to you, so here I am! Haha!"

"Two things that mean everything? What does that mean." Sky asked

"Ahh that… uhh…."

For some reason Neon looked away, her usual happy go lucky self seemed to fade away for a brief moment.

"T-that's cause…"

Sky wasn't completely sure, but it seemed like Neon's face getting red.

Was she having a fever?

Then suddenly Neon laughed like a madwoman.

"Mwahahahaha! What is this? Normally I couldn't say such things, is it because I'm currently fighting so I feel like I can do anything?! That's it! I'm in peak condition! Right now I can do anything!"

Firing at one more Octoling, Neon turned to Sky.

"Listen up Sky! Remember how I have a crush on someone?! Well that someone.."

She pointed directly at Sky

"... is you!"

"Wha?" Sky muttered, but Neon wasn't finished, she had much more on her mind.

"I don't know how it happened, or when it started, but whenever I'm with you I feel peace of mind, it's different from the good rowdy fun with Inker and Kal. Even though we always trade quips and you always shoo me away, you'd still put up with me every time I showed up again. Even though you call me troublesome, you still came looking for me when I vanished without saying anything. Yes even if I mess up, you're still there for me, so naturally I... began to like you."

Sky watched as Neon said these things, completely breaking her character as the simple goofball he thought he knew.

The way she spoke, the hint of nervousness mixed with the calmness in her voice..

This wasn't some big prank of hers.

"Before I thought you were boring at times, or a bit hardheaded, but now I know that all these characteristics mask a kind person who will look out for me, who I can open up to, who I can trust."

Without leaving Sky's side, Neon looked around for anymore Octarians, then she turned back to face Sky…

"I didn't have the courage to say this before but... I think Octo Valley is a bit too much for you, it makes me uneasy knowing you're here without me..."

And she smiled

"So please, will you return to Inkopolis with me?"

Sky had never seen Neon make such a face.

It was not the mischievous smile she had when she put ghost pepper in his ink shake.

It was a bright, pure and sincere smile.

The childlike Neon who loves to play pranks and tease her friends, was being honest and pouring her heart out.

The only thing Sky could complain about was the timing, who confesses in a warzone?

Yes he could complain about Neon again, but not this time.

"...I" Sky began.

"Oh look out!" Neon said quickly picking off another Octoling

This reminded Sky that they were still not out of the woods yet.

"Please just don't say anything yet." Neon said "I left a Squid Beakon behind as I ran here, so soon as we make it out of the lair, hold me and we'll jump back to safety."

Sky nodded

There would be time to talk after they've escaped Octo Valley.

But Neon had another reason.

As she superjumped through the air, Sky holding her tightly as they flew past the Octarian army, towards Inker and the New Octopolis army, Neon thought: 'Y_es, don't say anything just yet. Let me indulge just a little bit before I hear your reply… Because I'm sure that with how much trouble I cause you, you could never feel the same way.'_

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

After their escape, Neon told Inker and the others that Sky was safe and that she was going back to Inkopolis.

Hopefully she could get a few Splatfest matches in before the day ended.

In the meantime Arcus Hilgendorf told Victoria that they were allowed to enter Inkopolis, but only after the final splatfest ended.

So for now, Inker, Victoria and the New Octopolis army had to wait by the manhole.

Sky had returned to Inkopolis with Neon, but before he could say anything Neon ran off.

"Wait!" Sky shouted but Neon didn't stop.

He couldn't run as fast as she could, so Sky, as rational as ever, didn't bother trying.

There was still some daylight left, a Splatfest normally ran for just one day, so Sky decided he may as well pick a team at the pledge box.

"Hey Sky!"

"Hmm?"

Kal showed up, sweaty from Turf Wars but happy.

He seemed to have forgotten about Octo Valley.

"Oh Kal, How's it going?"

"Good good, I didn't expect to see you back so soon."

"Haha, I almost didn't make it back if not for Neon."

"Huh?"

"Speaking of which… did you see her anywhere? She ran off before I could err…. Thank her."

"Uhh, I saw her bolt into the tower, no hold on, what do you mean by 'If not for her'?"

"You didn't know? She left the Splatfest to come find me once she heard about the evacuation."

"Evacuation?"

"Right guess you're out of the loop, things aren't going well for Victoria but that's too much for me to handle."

"Right, Let's just enjoy the Splatfest, I bet Neon's already off winning a match and getting called a cheater. haha"

"Haha..." Sky realized he wasn't ready to go play Turf yet.

"Uhh, you go ahead, I got other things to do first."

"Hmm? Oh yeah we've been in Octo Valley for so long we forgot about our bills, well hurry back, you're going to miss out on the Super Sea Snails."

Sky waved goodbye to Kal, then his mind immediately went to Neon.

Apparently she hadn't played a single Splatfest battle today, as she left for Octo Valley as soon as she heard about evacuating the hideout.

'_She would give up the final Splatfest to come looking for me…'_

Sky knew how much Neon loved the splatfest, if she was willing to give it up to come looking for him, then there was no way he could possibly doubt Neon's confession. The only thing left was how to answer.

Now that he was back in Inkopolis, Sky had time to think.

Should he reject Neon or not?

Sky sat on a bench on the sidewalk, as eager Turf War players went in and out of Inkopolis Tower, participating in matches for their teams.

Sky wasn't about to join them, not now at least.

Everything Neon said ran through his mind.

He had a hard time believing it, but it made sense.

When Neon stormed off after trying to splat Victoria and later when she disappeared out of shame it was always Sky who would also go after her.

No wonder she thought that he was somebody trustworthy and kind.

But for Sky, what did Neon mean to him?

Could he say the same about Neon?

'_No, Neon is far too unpredictable to be called trustworthy and I doubt someone who splats others for fun could be called kind.'_

'_What is Neon then?' _Sky wondered.

The first thing that came to his mind was still 'troublesome girl'.

Someone who was simple like a child and never thought twice about anything.

'_No that's not it.'_

Neon wasn't like that

'_Neon only seems like that at first glance.'_ Sky though _'Although she does act like a buffoon she's not simple in the least.'_

Sky remembered how Neon was able to find Victoria hiding in Inkopolis when nobody else could.

How Neon was able to fight off the Octarian army pretty much entirely on her own.

How Neon was clever enough to know when an Elite Octoling was spying on them.

'_Neon is well… unpredictable and not in a bad way. She acts like a fool, but she's definitely not one.'_

There were times when Neon made some bad choices, like leaving Sky to fend for himself in Octo Valley or trying to end Victoria so she could play Turf Wars again, but she never made the same mistakes.

Bit by bit, Neon improved herself.

She didn't leave Inker nor Kal behind when they were rescuing Lila.

She stayed up when she felt that someone was watching them.

And after their first trip to Octo Valley, Neon wouldn't charge in screaming until Inker confirmed it was okay to do so.

'_Neon isn't as troublesome as she was before.' _Sky concluded

Then he thought about what he would say to her once he met her again.

What reasons did he have to accept Neon?

'_Knowing her, she probably feels embarrassed after saying all that and ran off to play Turf and watch the sunset. Still a troublesome girl, why couldn't she just wait for me?'_

'_Then again, you get used to it after a while. Neon is well, full of surprises, you think you know her then she goes off and does something incredible….._

_...Like protecting you from a bunch of Octarians while confessing at the same time...'_

Sky recalled the usual Neon, being loud, cheerful and teasing Kal and Victoria.

_Well I can say that Neon isn't boring in the least, yes that's it there is much more to Neon than meets the eye.'_

Then there was the side of Neon which seemed to be capable of anything if she put her mind to it.

'_Now that I think about it, I do seem to spend more time with her than the others.'_

Finally there was the Neon, who seemed unaffected by the world, yet deep down she had her own problems.

'_If I can't say she's trustworthy I can definitely say that she's interesting… yeah that will work…'_ Sky concluded.

He found a good reason to not turn her down, now all that was left is to find her.

'_I doubt I'll be lucky enough to run into her by joining some turf games.. Luckily I know somewhere she likes to hang out when the sun sets.'_

'_What a troublesome girl, running off because she can't handle her own words. Well guess I'll go find her….'_

Then Sky stopped.

Why did he worry so much about how to respond to Neon's feelings?

Why did he not focus on the negative aspects of Neon?

Sky had just realized that he didn't even consider turning her down..

That means….

"Heh" Sky chuckled

If he didn't know better he would laugh like Neon did in the lair.

Instead Sky looked up and thought.

_'Oh cod help me, I've somehow fallen for a troublesome girl.'_

Sky smiled.

He knew what would happen next.

He would probably find Neon sitting on that hill which overlooks the sea.

She would probably try to cover her ears.

Then there would probably be some tears from both of them, tears of joy definitely.

With that Sky went off to find Neon.

That whole situation with Octo Valley took an unexpected twist for Sky, but he should start getting used to it.

Neon was, after all, the most unpredictable yet interesting girl he had ever met.


	44. A Big Push

**Inkopolis**

Neon spent the final hours of sunlight playing turf wars.

Finally as the sky darkened, Inkopolis tower became less crowded, as the citizens of Inkopolis turned their attention away from the battles and to the sky, waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Others hung out in the Plaza, where Callie and Marie were already set up, ready to sing Ink Me Up till the sun rose again.

But Neon wasn't part of either events, even though she loved the colourful and rowdy scenes of Inkopolis, right now she wasn't in the mood.

Rather it was because of what she had said earlier that day, when she was in Octo Valley.

Caught in the heat of the moment, Neon said some rather embarrassing things.

Thinking about it made her flinch with embarrassment.

To clear her mind, like before she played Turf Wars, then she would spend the last few minutes of sunlight in tranquillity.

On that unnamed hill overlooking the ocean.

However, as Neon was wondering if she could just laugh off what she said, she felt someone's presence.

Sky arrived, having anticipated that Neon would be here. Without a word, Sky sat next to Neon as the sun was halfway down.

He looked happy. Neon, on the other hand was suddenly feeling nervous.

Before Sky could say anything Neon was trying to come up with an excuse for herself.

"Sky… About what I said earlier, err. I was just kinda…. Well you know how excited I can get while fighting and ….."

"Did you mean it?" Sky asked

"I.. err…. Well I wasn't lying….. But well…" Neon stammered, getting slightly flustered and unsure what to say.

Sky, just smiled.

"Good."

Sky gazed off for a moment before continuing.

"What you said… really caught me off guard you know.. So naturally I needed some time to think and decide how to respond to- Hey! Why are you covering your ears! Listen to me! This is serious!"

"Noooo! Just hurry up and get it over with! Stop teasing me by going in circles!"

Out of fear that she would not hear what she wanted to, Neon was covering her ears, much to Sky's annoyance.

"I just got here! How am I going in circles!? Would you just listen!" Sky said as he tried to pry Neon's hands away from her ears.

"Hey stop! Let go of me! Just pretend I'm listening and get it over with okay!?"

Sky wrestled and rolled with Neon, but he just couldn't uncover her ears.

Finally he gave up, figuring she could still hear him somewhat.

"Geez, why are you such a troublesome girl? Oh well I guess I don't mind it that much. First off I wanted to say; thanks for coming back for me."

Neon, who was wincing with her hands clasped over her ears, seemed to relax a little.

Sky took this as confirmation that she was listening.

Even if Neon was too afraid of being rejected, she was still listening on the off chance that Sky would reciprocate her feelings.

Sky continued "I thought I was done for, then to my surprise you show up, then you say that you think of me as a dependable and trustworthy person. You really are just full of surprises."

Smiling as he noticed Neon slowly start to remove her hands from her ears, Sky said "Well I can't say I feel exactly the same way about you. I can't say you're trustworthy nor dependable…"

Neon flinched as she heard Sky say that.

"But, if you ask me if I like you… I'd say yes."

Neon finally stopped covering her ears and sat up to face Sky.

"...What did you say?"

"I said, I like you. You aren't trustworthy or dependable because you are so wild and unpredictable, but I don't dislike you for that. Yes, even if you act like some goofy and loud girl, you occasionally break character and do some pretty incredible things, for some strange reason I think I'm attracted to that and…. Huh?"

Sky noticed that Neon's face was a mess.

She was blushing furiously out of embarrassment and the corners of her eyes were laced with joyful tears.

Yet at the same time she was sweating profusely and shaking with nervousness.

She was smiling nervously and her eyes were wide with surprise.

"snort…" Sky couldn't help it. "Ha! I wish you could see yourself right now, you look like a mess. This is the first time I've ever seen you lose your cool like this. Serves you right, you troublesome girlfriend."

In reaction to those last words, Neon's heart soared like an Inkstrike missile.

As quick as a flash, she leapt onto Sky and hugged him as tightly as she could, knocking him down in the process.

"Ow!" Sky said as he fell back with Neon on top of him. "Stop it! What if someone passes by? They'll get the wrong idea!"

"I don't care, I'm too happy." Neon said, though she did get off Sky quickly incase someone did happen to pass by.

Sky sat back up, brushing bits of grass and dirt off the back of his head.

"What?" He asked, upon noticing Neon stare wordlessly.

"Oh nothing…"

Neon hadn't felt this happy since she discovered Turf Wars three years ago.

Sky watched Neon slowly start to smile.

It was that same pure smile he saw in Octo Valley.

But this time they weren't in the middle of an Octarian war, this time Sky could properly take it all in.

The relieved yet bright smile on Neon's face, as if a great weight had just lifted off her shoulders.

The glitter of tears in her eyes, her blue eyes contrasting with the orange sun setting behind her.

Sky never thought that out of everyone else, Neon would like him.

Neon never thought that Sky would accept her.

One was a rowdy and carefree girl, the other a quiet and rational guy. You could say the two were pretty much opposites, but that didn't mean they wouldn't like each other.

As the sun finally settled beneath the ocean waves, the Splatfest fireworks began to launch.

Loud crackling and popping noises filled the air.

Sky and Neon both looked in the direction of Inkopolis Plaza.

"Let's head back, you wouldn't want to miss the end of all splatfests would you?" Sky suggested

"Ahh so you DO understand me! Alright! let's go!" Neon grabbed Sky's hand and took off in the direction of Inkopolis Plaza, completely ignoring Sky's shouts to slow down as he couldn't run as fast as her, in the end Sky was dragged all the way to the Plaza..

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

Kal hadn't spent this much time on Turf Wars ever before.

Doing his best to force Victoria and Octo Valley out of his mind, Kal repeatedly entered Splatfest matches over and over.

He played so much, that he had even lost count of how many rounds he played.

Finally it was night time, Kal took a break from the action to watch the fireworks and his favorite pop idols perform live.

Though for some reason Kal felt lonely this splatfest despite battling and meeting so many new Inklings.

'_Ahh right, usually I'd meet up with Inker, Neon and Sky after each match to chat.'_

Inker was still stuck in Octo Valley, Neon was nowhere to be found and Sky seemed to have other things on his mind.

So pretty much all his friends missed the last splatfest.

In addition to feeling a bit lonely, there was this weird sense of foreboding troubling Kal.

It was probably because the Final Splatfest was ending and the Squid Sisters would no longer be hosting Inkopolis News afterwards.

Deciding to simply enjoy the moment, Kal decided not to think about such things and just take in the sounds of Callie and Marie's wonderful voices singing to 'Ink Me Up' live in Inkopolis Plaza.

They would always sing that same song continuously every Splatfest, but to fans like Kal, it never gets old.

As the moon rose, nearing midnight, Callie and Marie stopped singing and dancing, this was met with a wave of cheers and applause from everyone in the Plaza, Kal included..

This would normally signal the end of the Splatfest, but not this time.

Callie and Marie rubbed their throats, somewhat burnt out after hours of singing, but the sight of the squealing fans kept them going.

"Hi everyone! Hope you've all enjoyed the Splatfest!" Callie began

"I can't believe the day is over already." Marie followed up

"Oh but hold on to your tentacles!"

"Huh!? There's more!?"

"Yep! The day might be over, but the Splatfest continues!"

"What kind of grand finale would this be if it was the same as every other Splatfest?"

"This final Splatfest will continue for another day!"

"So if luck hasn't been on your side of late, fear not! You've got another 24 hours to turf!"

"Yeah!"

Kal and the rest of Inkopolis Plaza cheered.

They were blessed with a 48 hour Splatfest.

Kal was glad it wasn't over just yet, now he can keep his mind off Octo Valley.

Though for some reason there was still that strange sense of foreboding.

Kal thought it was because of the Splatfest coming to an end, was it not?

As the crowds calmed down, Callie looked over to Marie's stage.

"You know, even though it's a bit early, I think I'm really going to miss this…" She said

"I think so too Callie, I think so too." Marie replied with a half smile.

"Well then why not end our run with the song that got us started?"

"You mean, the Calamari Inkantation?"

"Of course! Come on folks! What do you say?"

"YEAH!" The Inklings and other creatures of the plaza cheered even louder than before.

With a smile on their faces, Callie and Marie began to sing and dance to their cover of Calamari Inkantation.

Kal enjoyed it, but only for a while.

He loved the Inkantation, but it was reminding him of what was happening below the ground.

Strange, why would the customary chorus of Calamari County reminding him of the Undercity of Octo Valley?

Victoria and Lynn had only described a few Octarian songs to him, but he never actually heard them before, so it couldn't be because Octo Valley had a similar song.

Kal shook Octo Valley out of his mind and decided to distract himself with Turf Wars.

Just cause it was past midnight didn't mean there weren't any Night Owls duking it out under the starry sky.

"Sky! Come on Sky! This is the best time to battle!"

Speaking of skies, Kal spotted Sky and Neon near Inkopolis Tower.

Despite their constant banter the two seemed to be getting along better than before.

Neon seemed to be dragging Sky around, though for some reason Sky wasn't complaining.

"Hey! Neon! Sky!" Kal called out to his friends.

"Hmm? Oh hey Kal! You're still up?" Sky asked

"Of course he is! Who wouldn't be!? This is the Final Splatfest after all, imagine going to sleep and missing the big announcement! Yeah! anyone who went to bed today is missing out on the time of their lives." Neon declared.

"Ehh I wouldn't go that far, I just wanted to see the Splatfest's end. Who would have expected it to be extended?"

"Who's complaining?! This is awesome! I thought I'd have to give up the Final Splatfest when I left for Octo Valley! Now I get to enjoy both things that are important to me!" Neon somehow managed to look more excited than ever before, shoving a fist into the air as if to celebrate her good fortune.

Crossing his arms, Sky muttered "Still a troublesome girl…" but then he straightened up saying "Well some late night Turf Wars never hurt anyone. I guess I can put my sleep schedule aside for now."

"You have a schedule for that? Boring! Why would you follow a timeline? That just makes every day a thousand times more dull!"

"There's nothing wrong with being organized."

"If you say so."

Kal thought that the two were about to start shouting at each other again, probably ending with Neon strangling Sky or Sky scolding Neon, but the two seemed to have gotten used to each other.

Kal assumed it was because Neon and Sky were often left out before, when he and Inker would help Victoria and vice versa.

"Hey hey Kal! We all picked the same team right? You know that anyone playing at this time will probably be tried, so if you're not sleepy yet, you can win much easier! It's not a problem for me, but you two will need the easier opposition!"

"Of course it wouldn't bother you." Kal said

"Yeah, I don't think you've ever been sleepy before." Sky added

"Hmm? Oh that's simple! Being sleepy is boring so I just ignore it until I feel like sleeping!"

"How does that make any sen-..."Kal began "You know what nevermind…"

"Yeah we're here to turf not talk all night, come on both of you! Let's go already!"

"I'm not going anywhere! No need to rush!" Sky complained

"I'm here to forget about Octo Valley anyways. Sure let's go." Kal said

"Hmm?"

"What?"

In response to Kal's last statement, Neon glanced at him with a look of curiosity.

That look then became one of clarity as Neon went "Oooo"

"Uhh what's wrong?" Sky asked

"Ohh nothing... "

"Doesn't look like nothing."

"Well fine! something! I'll tell you later, lets go a few rounds first!"

"Ow! you don't need to pull me with you!"

"Sorry! Forgot I was still doing that!"

"I swear I'm going to lose an arm thanks to you…"

Kal watched Neon and Sky begin matchmaking for a splatfest battle, he followed and did the same.

He wasn't sure why the Calamari Inkantation suddenly put Octo Valley back in his mind, but he had 24 extra hours of Splatfest to get it back out.

* * *

**Octo Valley**

The entire area around Cap'n Cuttlefish's place had previously been empty and quiet, now it was crowded and flooded with ink.

Since they had nowhere else to go, Victoria and the New Octopolis army had to fortify their position, in other words they went around inking as much ground as they could and inking it all over again when it began to dry up.

Apparently there was some kind of festival going on in Inkopolis, one that was too popular to postpone.

Victoria knew that if she was to forcibly retreat through the manhole now, it would be chaos.

Though it was somewhat infuriating to know that there were Inklings celebrating and having a good time just on the other side of a manhole, while the Octarians down here are fighting for their lives.

If a younger version of herself had been in this situation, she would have rushed into Inkopolis without hesitation.

But if Victoria knew anything about Vale's revolution, it was that all those old hatreds stemmed from Octavio.

Everything she and the other Octarians were told growing up, about how the Inklings were selfish and cared for no-one but themselves, some of it was truth other bits were fiction, but it was all used by Octavio to gain control of Octo Valley.

If everyone was so busy hating on the Inklings, nobody would realize how oppressive Octavio's regime had been.

Well that and apparently music had something to do with it, but Victoria didn't really make much sense of that yet.

"Ahh it should be three by now, guess it's our turn. Come on Tony."

With their great sense of time, Victoria's troops knew when to change shifts.

Kevin the Octostriker and a splatoon of New Octopolis Octarians got up, grabbed their gear and left to switch with another splatoon.

A few moment's later Eliza and another splatoon returned, having been relieved of guard duty by Kevin and the others.

Eliza and the returning splatoon removed their armor and ink tanks and proceeded to get some rest.

They would switch again in three hours

Observing this repeated event, Victoria paid close attention in case anyone started to complain.

She was worried that some of the Octarians on her side might lose faith in the New Octopolis Army and head back to Octavia's side.

Hearing no complaints, Victoria concluded that she might be getting a little paranoid.

Then again, it was probably normal to be a bit paranoid in this situation.

The giant Octarian army could come crashing down on them at any moment.

They inked as much turf as they could around Cuttlefish's shack in preparation, but with the Octarian army plus the reserve army's numbers, all of that would only slow them down.

If that happened, who could she depend on?

Victoria glanced over at Cuttlefish's shack, the only place not covered in Octarian ink.

Inker and Cap'n Cuttlefish tried their best to help out, but the two had nodded off a one in the morning.

Inklings weren't so dependable after all.

'_If those two are asleep, then Kal should be as well.'_

With how paranoid and anxious she felt, Victoria was glad that she forced Kal back to Inkopolis beforehand.

Kal was never meant to be a soldier or agent or whatever Inkopolis would call them.

It was only sheer chance that the two got along so well.

'_I wonder, could all Inklings be like Kal once you got to know them?'_

Victoria thought about it for a moment.

She hadn't met too many Inklings but she could name a few.

Starting with Inker, who despite the rumors is really just somebody doing what they think is right and tries to enjoy himself whenever he can.

Then there is Neon, who is the definition of free spirited.

Cap'n Cuttlefish was supposed to be an old war veteran, but he didn't seem like any veteran Victoria knew, he seemed pretty laid back despite living on the border of Octo Valley.

Kal was kind of like that too, except he was the kind to avoid everything unless things got urgent.

'_Are Inklings just very carefree in general?'_ Victoria wondered.

They were the opposite of the Octarians she knew, though that might be because of how Octarians had been discouraged from socializing due to the low life expectancy of Octo Valley. They would make small talk with each other, but they always had that hint of fear in their voices as their city could crumble over their heads at any moment.

Kal was pretty scared of dying too, so maybe he was more Octarian like? Actually nevermind, he would hop into danger if certain conditions were met.

'_Guess Kal would be somewhere between the average Inkling and Octarian? Or maybe I've just happen to only meet carefree Inklings?'_

But wait, Victoria had also met Sky, who always had a stiff expression, so that kind of balanced things out.

She almost forgot about Agent 1 and 2, but she never really got to know them since they seemed to always be busy with something called 'Splatfest'.

There were some Vanguard Inklings too, but to Victoria those pricks weren't worth the brain cells remembering.

Ending that train of thought, Victoria glanced around in case something was coming.

Nothing so far.

She sighed, they were stuck here, exposed and weak until Arcus gave the all clear.

Victoria wondered why Octavia and the army wasn't coming.

She thought that maybe she was toying with her, giving her a false sense of hope only to take it away by suddenly overwhelming her with a huge force.

Or maybe they were being watched the whole time and the Octarian army was just carefully making plans to minimize casualties on their side.

Victoria was being paranoid again.

Well it's not like she could have possibly known the real reason for the Octarian army not arriving, which was that the rebelling Octarians that had been trapped in Octo Valley's Undercity were being stubborn and refusing to surrender.

The Calamari Inkantation, the defection of Captain Vale and the call to arms by Victoria. There was no way the Octarians could live under the old oppressive regime anymore after all that.

They might be on the back foot, but they weren't giving up just yet.

* * *

**Kalus's home, Inkopolis**

Kal had been up playing turf till two last night, so today it was almost noon when he woke up.

He would have turned in earlier, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep with Octo Valley in his head.

Plus Neon and Sky were there too, all that was missing was Inker, then it would have been just like every other Splatfest.

It might seem repetitive to some, but Kal thought it was nice to have some bit of consistency.

Since it was almost noon, Kal decided to have brunch and see if Neon and Sky were already at the Plaza.

There was no rush, since everyday in Inkopolis was like a vacation.

Yes that's right, there was no need to rush, it's not like Kal wanted to get to Turf Wars quickly because he started thinking about Victoria and Octo Valley again.

Grabbing his Slosher and throwing on some clothes, Kal left for Inkopolis Plaza immediately.

Kal didn't find Neon or Sky anywhere, so he went to Inkopolis tower alone.

He assumed that Neon might have spent the whole night playing and was already in a match, as for Sky maybe he was in a match as well since he was the type to get up early every day.

As soon as Kal started his first match of the day, he ran into another problem.

Apparently for the second half of the final splatfest, Callie and Marie had organized for the Calamari Inkantation to be played as the battle music, instead of the usual Ink Me Up.

It was playing during the night battles Kal joined too, though Kal thought it was only temporary.

It really didn't help that Calamari Inkantation was somehow reminding Kal of Octo Valley.

He just couldn't shake Victoria out of his mind.

He tried his best to ignore the music and focus on the sounds of 'ngyes' and 'woomy' or the sounds of Inklings being splatted or the shouts of annoyed Inklings who didn't get a booyah back.

If only Calamari Inkantation wasn't being played so loudly…

After failing to forget about Octo Valley during Splatfest matches, Kal left Inkopolis tower for a break.

It was already three in the afternoon, Kal sat in Inkopolis Plaza, drinking an ink shake and chatting with some local Inklings, he noticed Neon and Sky show up, the two seemed to argue a bit as usual, then Neon hopped into the manhole to Octo Valley, leaving Sky waiting for her outside.

He didn't want anything to do with Octo Valley, but he was curious as to why Neon went there.

He considered going over there to find out, but decided against it since they would probably talk about Octo Valley.

Kal watched Neon return to Sky and the two seemed to chat about something.

'_Strange, those two seem closer than usual.' _Kal thought as he noticed Neon and Sky getting along better than usual.

It didn't look like Neon was talking about Octo Valley so Kal wondered how he should make his appearance.

He considered just greeting them as usual but since Neon always teased him and Victoria by saying the two were in a relationship, Kal figured he might take a shot at doing the same with Neon and Sky.

It really wasn't normal for him to do such a thing, but Kal thought it would be interesting to see Neon's reaction to getting a taste of her own medicine.

Yeah it would be payback for Neon making things awkward between him and Victoria. Though he would probably be throwing Sky under the bus as well, if it bugs Neon he probably wouldn't mind.

With that in mind he walked up to his two friends.

"Why are you two so close all of a sudden?" Kal began getting both Sky and Neon's attention. "Don't tell me you've been dating behind everyone's backs." he joked.

"Yup!" Neon replied without hesitation.

"Wait what?"

"Was it that obvious?" Sky added

"WAIT WHAT!?"

If only Neon agreed Kal would have thought of it as a joke, but Sky as well?

Neon tilted her head in confusion "What?"

"That was supposed to be a joke! You know, kinda like what you say every time you see me with Victoria!" Kal exclaimed "W-when did you two?"

"Yesterday!" Neon puffed her chest out with pride. "I made the choice of a lifetime going after Sky instead of playing in the Splatfest. Things went so well! The Final Splatfest got extended! And I got Sky! Life is great! Wooohooo!" Neon cheered herself, as Sky was making motions telling her to quiet down.

"In all seriousness, this is our first day after confessing to each other so I guess that makes us a couple… right?" Sky asked

"Yeah I think that's how it works… Maybe?" Neon answered.

Both weren't really sure how a relationship was supposed to work.

"Hey don't look at me." Kal said "Still that was quite a surprise, I thought for sure your type would be Inker."

"I thought so too." Sky agreed

"Hey! Why are you agreeing with him! You're supposed to scold him out of jealousy or something along those lines!"

"No I really thought that."

"Really? Come on, I know you said I was hard to understand but seriously! I'm not so easy to just fall for anyone who manages barely beat me a few times in Turf! Hold on! is that how you think of me?"

"Of course not, there's no way you could appear easy. I just thought that you would prefer someone who could match up to you in Turf. Like I said you're really unpredictable, but that's what I like about you."

"Thank you! That brutally honest side of you isn't that bad either!"

"That wasn't a compliment."

"Nothing's stopping me from taking it as one!"

Kal watched as Neon and Sky began to bicker like usual, only this time they both seemed to have a slight smile on their faces

The atmosphere around the two felt so different now that Kal knew the two had started a relationship.

"Hey, I'm still here." Kal reminded the two.

"Oh right! Just got a little distracted by what you said earlier. Anyways this is perfect timing! We were just getting back to Inkopolis tower! You want to come too? Or maybe..." Maybe you want to go to Octo Valley?"

"No way." Kal said.

Neon and Sky exchanged glances.

"...Told ya…" Neon whispered "Alright suit yourself!"

Along with Kal, Neon and Sky went to Inkopolis tower to begin the second day of the Final Splatfest.

Normally Neon would be charging in, often pushing past other Inklings in the process but she stood by Sky's side this time.

She and Sky watched Kal walk and an increasingly fast pace, leaving the two far behind by the time he reached the matchmaking lobby.

Neon and Sky watched Kal finish one round, then immediately go for another.

And another.

And another.

"See! Told you! Just like me!" Neon said

Yesterday she heard Kal mention forgetting about Octo Valley.

She also remembered hearing Victoria force Kal to leave Octo Valley through the Hero Headset before.

Even if it is the Final Splatfest, it wasn't normal for Kal to play so many turf war matches without talking to anyone.

Nor was it normal for Kal to return to Inkopolis by himself, he might dislike dangerous places, he wasn't the kind to back out when things were dire. Neon and the rest of Kal's friends knew that by now.

From all this, Neon pieced together that Kal was going through something similar to what she went through some time ago.

That's what she had realized last night.

Having told Sky everything, Neon had gone to Octo Valley that morning to ask Inker just what made Kal come home.

Now Neon pretty much confirmed what was bothering Kal.

As night fell on Inkopolis, Kal was still endlessly playing Splatfest matches.

Neon and Sky, who played their respective games, began to worry when Kal refused to even take a break.

"Hey if you don't mind, I kinda want to speak to Kal alone, you know cause I went through something similar." Neon asked Sky

"Go ahead then, why are you asking me for permission?"

"Aren't we supposed to be a couple now? So wouldn't it be bad if I went to talk in private with some other guy?"

"Do I seem that insecure to you? Plus we've both known Kal for how long now? There is nothing wrong with looking out for a friend."

"Ahh I'm overthinking this aren't I?"

"Yeah, that's twice now. But don't worry about it, that just shows how committed you are."

"Thanks!"

"Plus it's better than your usual self, who doesn't seem to think at all."

"How mean! I'm not like that! I just only think about fun! That's like... Very very different! Stop smirking or i'll smack ya! Ahh! Kal is entering another match! Alright i'll smack you later, count on it! Kal wait up!"

Unfortunately Neon was too late to catch Kal.

After smacking Sky and waiting three minutes for the round to be over, Neon called out to Kal and brought him away, asking him about Octo Valley.

"I don't want to talk about it." Kal said.

"Alright then, hey hold on! Don't run off yet! This is important!"

"What? Octo Valley? I don't care just leave me be!"

"Not that! I just want to point out that you're doing exactly what I did!"

"What?"

"Something is bothering you right? So you're just playing turf to try and forget right?"

"You knew?"

"Yeah! I told you I did the same thing before!"

Neon was right, Kal knew that, he didn't want to think about Octo Valley so he wouldn't talk about it.

But if Neon was telling the truth, then there was something he wanted to ask.

"How did you get over it?"

"Simple! Sky found me and heard me out! Then he made me see things from a different light and I snapped right back to normal! Ohh right, but I did start to like Sky after that.. Guess that's just a bonus!" Neon explained

"What? That last bit seems unrelated."

"It just popped into my mind, I feel like it was connected, so I said it!"

"By that logic, if you hear me out now, I'm going to end up liking you?"

"Ohh? Well I don't know how you see me, but you're not my type, sorry but you should stick to the Victoria route!"

"What the?! When did this turn into a rejection!? You aren't my type either, but for some reason you saying that ticks me off."

"You aren't sad? Good! Then there was nothing between us! Perfect!"

"That just sounds more infuriating! and what did you mean by 'the Victoria route'? I've told you plenty of times before-"

"Yeah yeah, you and Victoria aren't a thing, I get it. But isn't that what's bothering you?"

"No."

"Are you sure? Cause I went to Octo Valley just before to find out what happened, aren't you only feeling dejected cause Victoria made you leave?"

"It's not that simple."

"Oh? There's more? Well go ahead! Tell me all about it! I've got all day after all!"

"You sure you want to waste time here instead of playing Splatfest matches?"

"Bah, it's not like it's really the last Splatfest, there's going to be more! mark my words! Anyways what's up with you? Don't tell me there's a lot of past events stacking up to make you act like this."

Neon hit the bull's eye.

Kal remembered how Neon seems to be able to figure out anything if she put her mind to it.

He was speechless at how accurate Neon was.

"Hmm? You aren't saying anything? Oh I got it right? Did I get it right?"

"You did."

"Hey don't stop there, come on, don't be afraid, if you don't say anything now it may be too late!"

Out of everyone, Kal never thought he'd be getting help from Neon.

Nor did he know why Neon was so determined to hear him out, maybe she just wanted to take Sky's role as the rational one for once?

"... Did you ever feel like you were useless? That you could only hold everyone back?" Kal asked

"Yeah, I remember messing up a lot in the past, almost splatting Victoria, leaving Sky behind in Octo Valley and going back to Inkopolis instead of helping you warn Victoria. After all that I thought that you guys were better off without me and left without saying anything."

"...I see."

Kal really was going through something similar, Neon could easily relate to what Kal was thinking.

The feeling of being useless, of only holding down everyone around you.

"I want to help Victoria and everyone else, I really do! I keep trying but I just can't seem to do anything worthwhile anymore."

"Well that's fine, maybe it's just not your time yet."

"No you don't get it, I can't do the things you guys do. I can't fight like Victoria, Inker or you, I can't speak Octarian like Sky and I can't even begin to understand how the army works."

"Oh… Well then maybe you can help in some other way?"

"How?"

"I don't know." Neon shrugged

"What, can't relate to this anymore?" Kal asked

"Nope."

"Why did I even bother."

Kal shouldn't have assumed that Neon could help smooth things out.

"Just to be clear, why do you want to help the New Octopolis Army?"

"Why not? You guys are all there."

"So it's peer pressure? Or is it something else?"

"What are you getting at?"

"I think that you only want to help the New Octopolis Army because Victoria is there."

"Seriously?" Kal said "You're bringing that up now?"

"I'm serious! I know I joke about it alot, but i'm serious this time!" Neon insisted

"Ever heard of the squid who cried shark?"

"No I'm dead serious this time. Think about it, when Victoria was in Inkopolis with you, you never talked about going to Octo Valley, but as soon as Victoria left to join Vale's splatoon you started doing everything to go to Octo Valley with the rest of us."

"Hey, all of you left for Octo Valley, it wasn't just Victoria."

"Yeah, but you were always glancing Victoria's way back in the lair."

"That's cause… it was out of concern."

"Of course it was! Concern was the same reason I abandonned the Splatfest for Sky."

"That's different."

"How?"

"Because…" Kal couldn't think of another reason.

"You know, the only reason I kept on teasing you two was because I noticed how close the two of you were. Still I can't believe either of you have made a move yet."

"It should be obvious why."

"Really? Well let me tell you what I think, it was a joke at first, but I think that over time you and Victoria have only gotten closer."

"Well yeah, that's only natural given the time we've known each other."

"Then why didn't you look for me when I disappeared months ago? You've known me for longer."

"Why do you only choose to be observant in times like this?"

"Stop dodging the question, do you like Victoria or not?"

"I don't dislike her."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"You tell me."

"Why can't you just answer yes or no? Believe me it's easier to say it to someone else than to that person directly."

"Aren't you the one who kept your crush on Sky a secret?"

"That's unrelated." Kal was really dragging this conversation out, Neon decided it was time for a change of pace. "Fine i'll just tell you about Octo Valley then."

"Not interested."

"You said you wanted to help, so you better listen. Victoria and the New Octopolis Army are on the verge of defeat."

"Not my problem, I don't care about Octo Valley."

"Well then you'll be glad to know that Victoria and the others are coming to Inkopolis soon."

This got Kal's attention.

"Wait seriously!?"

"Yep! All thanks to Arcus! As soon as the Final Splatfest ends, the IPD and closing off Inkopolis Plaza and letting the New Octopolis army in."

"Wait really?" this was good news for Kal "Wait so they're going to move to Inkopolis?"

"Not really." Neon explained "I'm no politician so I don't really understand it, but the government is letting Victoria and the others hold out against the Octarian army in Inkopolis Plaza."

"Oh"

"You know what that means? After today there will be no going back to Octo Valley for us."

"But that's fine, Victoria and the others are coming here right?"

"What difference does that make? The IPD are going to block off Inkopolis Plaza until one of the two sides are toast."

"What? They can't do that!"

Neon shrugged "Well, Victoria and the friendly Octarians aren't Inkopolis' responsibility."

"How can you say that? Victoria and the others can't respawn you know!"

"Then you'd better see her before the end of the day. It might be the last time."

"Don't say that!"

Neon smiled

"Are you afraid of talking to Victoria?"

"Afraid? I'm not! It's just that.. Well Victoria was the one who wanted me out, so it just doesn't seem right for me to go back… Do you think i'm just a burden to Victoria?"

"Pfft." Neon giggled

"What? What's so funny?"

"Is that why you don't want to admit you like Victoria? Cause you're afraid she doesn't like you?"

Somehow Neon brought the conversation back to Victoria.

And once again, she managed to figure Kal out.

"Fine, I'll admit it… I was feeling useless before... but it wasn't until Victoria sent me away, that I really started to feel bad."

"There you go! Was that so hard?"

"Even though she pushed me away, do you think I have a chance?"

Neon laughed again.

"Hey seriously! Stop laughing at me!"

"Haha! Sorry it's just too funny."

"I hate you, Sky must have a screw loose to fall in love with you."

"Hey! I don't care if you hate me! But don't say that about Sky!"

After nearly starting a fistfight with Kal, Neon went back to why she was laughing.

"You don't understand a thing! I know I wasn't there but Inker and Sky told me everything, I think there's a misunderstanding, yeah I know why Victoria kicked you out of Octo Valley."

"Why?" Kal wasn't sure if he could believe Neon, but he was curious.

What other reason could Victoria have to kick him out of the Valley?

"Because you mean so much to her! It's so obvious!"

"How is that obvious?!"

"Well she's under a lot of stress, being forced to lead the New Octopolis Army and all. Plus they aren't in a good position right now. She sent you back to Inkopolis because she doesn't want to lose you to the Octarian Army."

"But she was yelling you know, she seemed angry."

"That's just because she's under so much pressure! She doesn't want you too end up stuck in the same situation as her."

"So what she's giving herself up to protect me? Actually, that wouldn't be the first time…"

Victoria had done something similar before when Octolings broke into Kal's house.

Kal couldn't believe he thought Victoria hated him just cause she forced him away from the dangerous Octo Valley.

Normally he wouldn't consider going to such a place, but Victoria was still there.

If today was the last day before Octo Valley was blocked off, maybe he should go.

"... Now that I think about it, maybe I'm kinda at fault for always teasing the two of you." Neon said "Both of you denied liking each other, but overtime that changed and now both of you are scared of making a move because you both denied being in a relationship every time I brought it up…. Hey if you want, you can smack me for that."

Kal didn't care about that.

"Neon… How was it like confessing to Sky?" Kal asked

"Oh it was tough! Really tough! But I'm still glad I did it, yeah I was completely ready for Sky to reject me, but getting all those words out was really a load off my mind!"

Neon smiled brightly, almost glowing like a monk reaching enlightenment.

It looked like revealing her feelings really made her feel better.

There were still other things worrying Kal though.

"I have some things I want to say, but well, Victoria's an Octoling…"

"So what? I don't remember it being illegal to love an Octoling!"

"She also doesn't feel comfortable living in Inkopolis..."

"That can change! Stop worrying about these little things!"

Kal took a deep breath and sighed.

"No… I just can't, this is too sudden for me."

"Whatever you choose to do now, you'll regret it one way or another eventually, so just go with the flow! And remember, Sky and I are here for you."

Neon gave Kal a heartly pat on the back and started heading back to Inkopolis Tower.

Midway however, Sky found them.

"Hey, Kal. I thought you should know that the IPD are already getting ready to block off Inkopolis Plaza" Sky said.

It was almost midnight after all, the Final Splatfest would be over by then.

Neon said that the IPD were blocking off not just the manhole, but Inkopolis Plaza as a whole.

They were also not going to move until either the New Octopolis army or Octarian army was defeated.

Kal already knew that Victoria and the others were at a disadvantage.

There was a chance that Victoria would survive without his help and everything could return to normal, but was he willing to take that chance?

No, things weren't going back to normal, Kal needed to stop thinking that he could go back to ignorantly playing Turf Wars everyday and spending the night in his empty home alone, like he did before meeting Victoria.

Part of him wanted to go to Octo Valley, another told him to stay.

As usual, Kal wanted to stay away from trouble.

But when time was short, when things got dire, Kal would jump in.

That was who he was.

That was why he couldn't make up his mind until nightfall and the clock started counting down to midnight and the end of the Final Splatfest.

Finally, Kal took a deep breath and gave a determined expression.

"I've decided, I'm going to Octo Valley."

"Alright! Good choice!" Neon applauded his decision.

"You're really cutting it close there." Sky said.

Kal looked determined, but he stood as still as a statue.

"Umm, why aren't you moving?" Sky asked

Kal was frozen in place.

"Heh, I guess I'm too nervous, I barely have any time to prepare myself and now my legs won't move."

Inklings began to fill Inkopolis Plaza, ready to begin the countdown to the end of all Splatfests.

IPD officers were waiting to block off Inkopolis Plaza as soon as the crowd parted.

And Kal was there, unable to move.

"Hey Neon, Sky, you guys are here for me right?"

"Of course."

"Definitely."

"Then do me a favor, can you two give me a push? One big push to get me going?"

"No problem." Both Neon and Sky replied at the same time.

Kal felt a strong force propelling him forward.

It was enough to put him in motion, he ran full speed to Octo Valley.

* * *

**Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley**

The remaining Octarians were packing up, preparing to enter Inkopolis.

Eliza and a group of Octarian soldiers were lining up the refugees and unarmed volunteers in a single file line, preparing to march them into Inkopolis when Kal arrived.

He glanced around furiously, calling Victoria's name.

"What are you doing back here?" Eliza asked

"I need to see Victoria."

"If you're looking for her, she at the defense line along with Agent 3 and Lynn."

"Alright thanks, uhh where is that?"

"Just go deeper into the Valley until you see her."

Kal rushed deeper into Octo Valley.

There was magenta ink everywhere, meant to slow down the Octarian army, it had the unfortunate side effect of slowing down Kal as well.

But he wouldn't let that stop him.

Slowly, he could make out Victoria in the distance.

She was standing alongside Lynn, Inker, Cuttlefish and dozens of armed Octarians, watching the horizon.

"We've got the all clear, beginning evacuations now, captain." Victoria heard Eliza's voice over the radio.

"Copy."

"Also, there was an Inkling looking for you."

"Say again?"

"A red Inkling entered the Valley not long ago, he's heading your way."

Victoria only knew one red Inkling.

She looked behind her and saw Kal, making a path through the magenta ink using his Slosher.

"Kal?"

"Victoria!" Kal huffed

He was slightly out of breath, but he had done it, he made it to Victoria.

"What are you doing here? I told you to stay in Inkopolis! This is the first line of defense you know!" Victoria began to lecture him.

Kal however wasn't paying attention.

There were just four words he had to say, but it was tough.

'_This must be how Neon felt. Come on I can do it, just say it! Blurt it out if I have to!' Kal thought_

Victoria was still trying to lecture Kal "Things aren't too good for us so please ju-"

"I love you Victoria." Kal exclaimed

It was enough to silence Victoria and draw the attention of the entire defense line.

Kal felt hundreds of eyes staring his way, his face quickly became as red as his tentacles.

'_Maybe I shouldn't have said that so loud…'_

Victoria was completely speechless, she shut her mouth and looked to the floor as if to hide her face, almost dropping her Blaster in the process.

To the side, Inker looked stunned by this development, but he also looked like he was ready to cheer on his friend.

Cuttlefish chuckled and muttered something about being young.

But Lynn and the Octarians looked worried.

"Death flag." someone muttered

"It's a death flag."

That term sounded familiar to Kal, maybe he heard it before but he couldn't remember when.

As whispers of 'death flag' begun among the Octarians present, Lynn looked nervously at Victoria.

Victoria wasn't moving.

"U-umm, W-we should return and help with the evacuation!" Lynn said, "Let's give the captain some time!"

Around Kal and Victoria, Inker, Lynn, Cuttlefish and the Octarians all hasilty left towards the manhole.

It was just Kal and Victoria left.

"Umm Victoria? I know that was really sudden and out of nowhere, but-"

"Are you trying to get me killed!?" Victoria shouted, her face flushed red.

"Huh?" was all Kal could say.

Why did Victoria look so angry.

"Don't you know!? saying that before a battle is a bad omen!? That's why the army calls it a death flag!"

"What?! B-b-but how was I supposed to know!?"

"Right… You couldn't have known… It's not your fault but just why?... ughhhh." Victoria groaned

"I'm sorry…" was all Kal could say.

Now he was scared, was there really such a dangerous rule in the Octarian army? Did he unknowingly just kill Victoria?

Victoria noticed Kal's face go from red to a ghostly white.

"Don't worry… it's all just myth anyways…." Victoria assured him.

"...Oh…"

Now that she had the chance to vent a bit, Victoria muttered "...I'm happy."

"Huh?"

"I'm happy you said that. I really am… I'm sorry for yelling at you, both before and just now, being the leader of a losing army is just so frustrating."

"So i've heard… Umm, I know it might seem strange since I denied it everytime Neon brought it up, but I really-"

Victoria placed a finger on Kal's mouth "Hush, stop it there, please don't raise any more death flags."

Kal nodded, now silent.

For a moment, she was about to tell him to go back to Inkopolis so she wouldn't need to worry about him anymore, but then it struck her, this might be the last time she could speak to him.

"I know there's a lot you want to say, so do I, but I really don't want any more bad omens." Victoria said.

Kal didn't say anything he watched as Victoria averted her gaze, her green pupils no longer facing him as she continued.

"So because of that, I can't say that you were the only one I could ever open up to. I can't explain that because of how dangerous Octo Valley was, nobody could ever be themselves and had to hide their feelings and avoid making friends. I can't say that meeting you turned out to be a breath of fresh air for me, I can't say that despite all my time in Octo Valley, you were the first person to ever hear my story because you could care."

Victoria smiled "Yes I would have said all those things, but I can't right now."

'_What was with this strange way of speaking? When did this turn into Victoria's confession?_' Kal wondered

Kal could see how happy Victoria was, though maybe because she still had a tough fight ahead of her that she tried not to show it.

That was the Victoria he knew, the one who always puts on a tough front to hide her more sensitive side. Who took her job as an Octarian soldier super seriously, yet still had a soft spot for him.

"Umm, I-" Kal began, but Victoria placed her finger back on his lips.

"Not now, I said no more death flags. Just wait for me, give me something to look forward too."

"Yes ma'am." Kal mimicked the usual reply of an Octarian soldier.

He wasn't able to say much, but he still felt satisfied.

Once he got back to Inkopolis, he had to properly thank Neon and Sky for giving him that push.

As for Victoria, she and the New Octopolis Army would soon take a defensive position in Inkopolis Plaza, surrounding the manhole to Inkopolis.

Word quickly spread among the New Octopolis Army, that a death flag had been raised for Victoria.

And so, as the IPD sealed off Inkopolis Plaza and the Octarians began fortifying their position, a sense of determination wafted through the ranks.

Lynn, Eliza and all the other soldiers of the New Octopolis Army had all heard about Victoria's death flag, now they stood with a new goal.

"We must not let the captain be splatted!"


	45. Iron Rain

**Inkopolis Plaza**

With the Final Splatfest nearing its end, Inkopolis Plaza was jam packed with Inklings.

Even Callie and Marie were surprised by the sheer amount of Inklings showing up to their grand finale, it was so crowded that you could no longer see the pavement, instead Inkopolis Plaza was covered in a large blanket of colours.

As midnight approached, Callie and Marie stopped singing and waited for the clock to strike 12.

Nobody knew who it was, but somebody started a final countdown to midnight.

"20! 19! 18! 17!"

Whoever it was, shouted as loud as they could, soon the whole plaza joined in, some of the Inklings at home watching the Squid Sisters live started counting down too.

Smiling, Callie and Marie even joined in.

"5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Stop battling!"

The day ended, and with it the Squid Sisters' last time hosting the Splatfest.

Splatfest officials began tallying the results, as Callie and Marie thanks everyone for supporting them.

Slowly but surely, the crowd began to clear out.

Everyone was so elated by the Splatfest that they didn't notice the Inkopolis police officers standing nearby with impatient looks on their faces.

It took almost two hours for Inkopolis Plaza to clear out.

By then, Kal had returned from Octo Valley, although he wasn't able to say much, he felt refreshed to have at least been able to say he loved Victoria at least once.

Neon was right, doing so really lifted a huge weight off his shoulders, he felt like he could fly.

But for now, it was late and Kal wanted to be up as early as possible to see Victoria and the other Octarians as they settle in Inkopolis Plaza.

He wasn't very useful in Octo Valley, but maybe things will be different in Inkopolis.

* * *

**Octo Valley**

Victoria and the New Octopolis army had been waiting for hours.

_'How long does it normally take to clear out a plaza?'_

Inker and Cap'n Cuttlefish had already returned since neither could be seen alongside the Octarians if they were to keep their New Squidbeak Splatoon a secret.

That left only the Octarians sitting around waiting for someone to give the all clear from the other side.

Finally, an Inkling dressed in a police uniform passed through the manhole, informing VIctoria and the others that they were ready to receive them.

One by one, the New Octopolis Army entered Inkopolis, some were nervous, others excited.

They were about to enter a whole new world.

Victoria, taking her new role as leader very seriously despite her lack of experience, made sure she would be the last to enter, so Eliza ended up being the first to enter Inkopolis, followed by everyone else.

"So this is Inkopolis…" Eliza muttered as she glanced at the undamaged, clean and brightly luminated Inkopolis Plaza. _'Huh, even if we are in the middle of a city the air here seems a lot nicer than in Octo Valley… I wish Elieen could have been here with me.'_

Behind her, many of the other Octarians had their own comments to their first glance of the surface.

After Eliza and her squad confirmed everything was safe, all the non combatant Octarians on their side came through.

Some were in awe of the bright and vivid colours of the city lights, some had never even seen an undamaged building before and gazed at any structure they saw. A few were mesmerized by the sight of the Great Zapfish resting above Inkopolis Tower.

Victoria's former roommate Violet was amazed by pretty much the entire city and soon found herself wondering why Victoria would rather choose to live in Octo Valley than stay here with Kal.

After all the non combattants left Octo Valley, the rest of the armed Octarians followed.

Octolings with Rollers and Octoshots, Octotroopers on little hovercrafts, Octosnipers dragging their sniper platforms.

Then there was the Octostriker Kevin, who had dreamt of flying through the real sky someday.

As soon as he made it through the manhole he stared straight up, clumsily bumping into a few other Octarians as he walked without watching where he was going.

"The real night sky..." He muttered, It was just like in the stories. Although it was dark you could make out small glints of light representing the stars, and if you looked closely you might even see clouds despite the lack of light.

Kevin assumed the large white circle in the sky was the moon, though he thought it was supposed to be crescent shaped.

Too bad they had to leave all their larger vehicles behind, he would have loved to fly everyone through the clouds aboard his saucer.

Lynn was one of the last to enter Inkopolis, upon seeing the beautiful city around them, her tentacle hair started to struggle as if they were excited and didn't want to stay bound up in a ponytail anymore.

Lynn was too busy taking in the scene to worry about her hairy problem, but before she could have much of a reaction, Victoria made it through the manhole, meaning that everyone was now present.

"Hey! Enjoy the sights after we've set up camp!" Victoria ordered, immediately bringing the New Octopolis Army back to attention.

As the rest of Inkopolis slept, the New Octopolis army settled in Inkopolis Plaza.

The IPD on the other hand, began setting up barriers and roadblocks around the Plaza.

Of course, a movement of this scale couldn't have gone unnoticed by the Octarian army.

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

In a planning room, Octavia and many of the other Elite Octolings, pondered over a report they had received.

While most of the little rebellion started by Victoria had been captured or put down, Victoria was still out there and at large.

Octavia didn't even acknowledge her as much of a threat at first, but the most recent developments were worrying.

"I thought for sure they would sit this one out." Octavia said.

That was of course, in response to the report that Victoria and all the remaining unloyal Octarians had taken refuge in Inkopolis.

"Inkopolis had barely made any contact with any Octarian since the Great Turf Wars, so why would they suddenly intervene? It's makes no sense."

"There must be some reason, it's not safe to assume that Inkopolis was in the dark about all that has happened recently, they might see this 'New Octopolis Army' as a way of getting rid of Octavio."

"It's even possible that the whole thing was started with their help." the Elite Octolings discussed

"If that was the case, they would have kept a low profile and left the New Octopolis Army to their own devices once things started going our way."

"You know what this means right? The new leader of that group, Victoria Holter, she must be well connected if she was able to convince the Inkling government to shelter her remaining forces. Maybe we've underestimated her." Octavia said.

But it was still hard to believe that an Octoling with nothing special could have so much influence in Inkopolis.

"If I recall correctly, she's the one who got lost in Inkopolis before. Agent 3 personally delivered her back to us, it wouldn't be surprising if the New Squidbeak Splatoon has something to do with this." One Elite commented

"We put her through every possible test we had! There was nothing wrong with her, she was still willing to fight for the valley and against Inkopolis. As far as we know she was never brainwashed." another explained.

"What if Inkopolis had secretly surpassed DJ Octavio in that field?"

'Well we won't find out by waiting, send an emissary to Inkopolis and demand that they hand over the remnants of the New Octopolis army."

* * *

**Inkopolis Parlament Building**

Getting off the phone with an IPD officer, Defense Minister Arcus nodded and turned towards the rest of the Inkopolis cabinet members, all having gathered in response to the developping situation with the New Octopolis army.

"It's done, the rebelling Octarians are grateful for our help and are occupying half of Inkopolis Plaza." Arcus informed the others

"Everything went well." One minister commented.

"For now yes, but was it the right move?" Prime Minister Steenson wondered.

For some reason he was having that same feeling, that same headache from back when the Vanguard Movement was just being formed.

It was too early to relax, Steenson felt that something was going to happen soon and it will put a lot of pressure on the cabinet, they would probably be forced to make decisions within a limited timeframe.

With an election not far around the corner, Steenson didn't want to mess up now.

"Hey now, it's too early to make conclusions, all we can do it wait for the Octarian Army to make their move." Arcus assured the prime minister.

"Then it's my time to shine, I've poured over every agreement we've made with Octo Valley at the end of the war, there hasn't been any further agreements made after that. So far we haven't gone against any treaties, so we're ready for whatever the Octarian army has to say." declared the minister of foreign affairs.

"Let's not forget that the renegade Octarians are occupying Booyah Base, even though we are letting them do so, it might not sit well with the public." Another minister pointed.

"If that's the case, I should see to it that Turf Wars is hosted somewhere else, with how much publicity the Final Splatfest brought, Turf Wars is more popular than ever, so naturally I've had my people scout out suitable locations for a new Turf Wars lobby." came another minister.

Steenson watched his cabinet members work so enthusiastically.

None of them looked as worried as he was, he almost envied them.

Being the Prime Minister at a time like this was most pressuring.

"Listen here, lets not act too hasty, if things are good as is we should just leave it as is!" Steenson interrupted the other ministers.

They exchanged glances then hastily agreed.

"It's too risky to change something now, if we screw up now I doubt our popularity ratings will recover in time." Steenson explained

"I get it, so I shouldn't move the Turf Wars lobby yet?" the Minister of culture asked.

"At least not until someone has a problem with the one in the plaza."

"What about the Octarian army? We will definitely be hearing from them soon."

"Then wait for them, do whatever you need to but don't do anything until absolutely necessary."

That was Steenson's plan, just like with the Vanguards if the cabinet could resolve things with as little involvement as possible, it would reduce the risk of things blowing up in their face if it went wrong.

Or so he thought.

* * *

**Kalus' home, Inkopolis**

Kal was tired from both the Final Splatfest and that mad dash he made for Victoria.

Even if he wanted to wake up earlier, the fatigue from before coupled with his natural habits as an Inkling kept him asleep till it was almost noon yet again.

When he realized what time it was, lept into motion making sure not to miss the results of the Final Splatfest.

He managed to tune in just as the Squid Sisters were in the middle of announcing the results

The final results were appearing on screen, first the popularity vote then the wins.

"Boom!"

"Ta-da!"

As the results were annouced, Marie's eyes went wide.

"HOLY CARP! I WON?! I WON!."

Recovering from her surprise Marie smiled at the camera. "Thanks for believing in me, Team Marie!"

As for Callie, she stared, mouth agape for a while, then she calmly spoke "I'd like Judd, Gramps and most of all… Congrats Marie, you've earned it."

"Thank you Callie, for being my best friend."

"SQUID SISTERS FOREVER!" Callie cheered.

"Well… I guess that's it I'm really going to miss this."

"Me too Marie…. Me too."

"Now get to the Plaza and claim your prize!"

That was the signal for dozens of Inklings to start flooding towards the Plaza.

Glad he listened to Neon's advice and picked the winning team, Kal hurried to the Plaza but when he got there, the scene was vastly different compared to before.

The IPD had closed off most of the Plaza, specifically the area around the manhole.

This included Inkopolis Tower.

There were whispers among the Inklings, who had shown up to collect their rewards for the FInal Splatfest.

Just what was going on here?

"Why is there so many cops here?"

"Hey , do you think maybe Spyke…"

"No wait look there, are those Octarians?"

Someone pointed past the IPD blockade, where Victoria and the New Octopolis army had settled.

Hearing this, Kal pushed his way to the front of the crowd.

He could see familiar looking Octarians taking up most of the Plaza, Lynn, Eliza, Victoria, but he didn't see Inker or Cap'n Cuttlefish anywhere.

"Hey! Why can't we go to Inkopolis Tower!" someone shouted as they realized the tower was part of the area that had been cordoned off.

"Calm down everyone, the Octarians you see here have been chased out of their home, They are being hunted in Octo Valley so we are keeping them here for the time being, the Plaza will return to normal as soon as it is safe for them to leave." an IPD officer explained

"More importantly! How are we supposed to turf now?!" Someone shouted.

"Yeah! What are you doing about that!?"

"Who cares about the Octarians?!"

"Somebody throw those octoslobs back underground!"

Kal noticed some of the Octarians react to that last comment.

He could see Lynn hold Victoria and Eliza back as various shouts rang through the air.

"Send them back to Octo Valley already!"

"They don't belong here!"

"Booo! Bring back Turf Wars!"'

Kal could understand missing Turf Wars, but why could these other Inklings be more subtle about it? They didn't know what Victoria and the others had been through.

Then again he reacted the same way once before.

Even so, it didn't sit well with him, how everyone only seemed to care about Turf Wars and didn't even hear what the IPD officer said about them being hunted in Octo Valley.

"Settle down everyone! We understand how important Turf is to us all, the battle lobby has been moved to the Deco Tower in Inkopolis Square, anyone here for Turf Wars please head there for the time being."

Hearing that, the crowd of Inkopolis Plaza began to thin out and head westward towards Inkopolis Square.

It was surprising how quickly everyone left when they realized they could no longer play Turf Wars here.

The only Inklings left were a few curious ones, who were somewhat interested in what the Octarians were doing here.

They got as close as they could to the barriers before the IPD officers asked them to step back.

Victoria and the Octarians took note of them, but continued with their own tasks.

Meanwhile, now that the crowd had thinned out, Kal managed to spot Inker hanging out in the Plaza.

"Yo Inker!" He waved at his friend.

Inker was not wearing his Hero Suit, nor did he have the Hero Shot on hand. Instead he was wearing more common Turf War gear to blend in.

"How come you're here and not with them?" Kal asked

"With all the attention this is attracting, I'll probably expose the New Squidbeak Splatoon if I was seen there."

'Oh right… Must be hard keeping that a secret huh?"

"Only in times like this. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Don't you want to hop over there right now?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Come on, don't play dumb, we all heard what you said to Victoria." Inker said with a grin.

"Oh right that… it's no big deal."

"No big deal? No no, you're in love! And you made such a bold declaration in front of everyone! How is that not a big deal? Anyways, how did it go?" Inker nudged Kal.

Kal really should have expected his best friend from childhood, to be so curious.

"There's not much to talk about, Victoria just told me to save it for after the Octarian civil war."

"Ouch, must be hard keeping your mouth shut when you've already said something that big."

"Oh no it's fine, I'm glad I got that out. Though Victoria was saying something about death flags and bad omens. I don't really get it, but well... she didn't reject me, so I'm happy." Kal smiled

"So you two are a thing now? Hah! Why didn't I see it coming? I'm glad you had the guts to confess to her even after she kicked you out of Inkopolis."

Unlike Neon, who understood the real reason why Victoria made Kal leave, Inker was oblivious.

Still he congratulated his friend, while Kal only laughed awkwardly.

Then he looked over the barrier, trying to see what Victoria was doing.

She was talking to Lynn about something, as some of the New Octopolis troopers went in and out of the manhole, probably watching for the approaching Octarian army.

Victoria took note of Kal, but then immediately went back to her own business.

Kal did kind of feel like hopping over the IPD blockade and going to Victoria, but she probably had things handled.

Plus there was still that bad omen Victoria mentioned, Kal didn't know how it worked but he assumed he should refrain from any further confessing.

Well then, he had to distract himself again.

"Hey let's not wait around here, i'm gonna go check out the Square, maybe the shops there have new gear for us! Besides, I still have to claim my Splatfest reward." Kal said.

"Oh speaking of that, how did the Final Splatfest go? I ended up missing the whole thing."

Kal and Inker left for Inkopolis Square, chatting about the Final Splatfest as they walked.

* * *

On Victoria's side of the Plaza, she watched Kal turn away and leave.

It was somewhat of a relief, the further away from the fighting he was, the better.

"Are you still worried Captain?" Lynn asked

"Eh no, i'm fine, the war comes first for us anyways." Victoria replied.

"Don't worry about the death flag, I will do my best to make sure nothing happens to either of you." Lynn assured Victoria.

"No there is really no need, I can handle myself."

An Octotrooper standing nearby chimed in. "Don't take that death flag so lightly, if something goes wrong, don't be afraid to use me as a shield. I am just a single tentacle after all, it won't matter if I die."

"You don't need to go that far." Victoria commented

"He's right! Don't prioritize us over yourself! Not when someone is waiting for your safe return!" Lynn added

"Don't you still have your sick father and little siblings to take care of?"

For some reason, ever since Kal created that bad omen, Victoria noticed that all the Octarians around her were suddenly acting different.

It was heartwarming to know they got her back, but it also got a bit annoying when they went too far.

In fact just a while ago, Eliza mentioned that she didn't mind being reunited with her deceased sister if it meant saving Victoria.

It was a tad too extreme, bad omens and death flags are just myths, not fact, though Victoria still generally preferred to avoid them.

Speaking of Eliza, she was running up to Victoria with some news.

"There's an emissary from Octavia on the other side of the manhole, apparently she wants to talk with Inkopolis, what should we do?" Eliza asked

Victoria wasn't sure either.

If Octavia convinced the Inkopolis government to kick them out of Inkopolis Plaza, they would be powerless to do anything.

On the other hand, not allowing this emissary to pass through might not sit well with the Inkopolis government either.

Then again, the ground they now stood on was technically part of Octo Valley for the time being.

Just as Victoria considered turning the emissary around, one of the IPD officers approached her and made her grant the emissary safe passage into Inkopolis.

The Inkopolis government must have been expecting them.

Victoria reluctantly let Octavia's emissary pass through their blockade.

She and the New Octopolis army stared at the emissary with unease, knowing that before them was an enemy they could not attack.

What is worse was that this enemy could see the complete layout of their camp.

As soon as the emissary was out of sight, Victoria began planning a rearrangement of the whole camp.

* * *

**Inkopolis Square**

The new hub for all Turf Wars and Turf War related shops seemed even more crowded than Inkopolis Plaza.

The first thing Kal noticed was that the Square seemed a lot more narrow compared to the Plaza

He and Inker could see the Deca tower directly in front of them, piercing into the sky, covered with billboards.

There was already a constant stream of Inklings entering and exiting the tower.

"Whoaho, so this is going to be the next Inkopolis Plaza?" Inker said

"I kinda hope the Plaza doesn't shut down, there's just too many memories with that place." Kal wished

"As long as Booyah base doesn't close down, we'll still need to Plaza for our gear."

"Hey, isn't there some shops around here?"

"Oh yeah, I think it was called the Galleria or something, let's go check it out."

Like with Inkopolis Plaza, the shops didn't allow any newbies to shop for newer gear.

Kal and Inker however, were no newbs.

The first shop that caught their attention was "Ammo-knights" It was the same name of Sheldon's shop in Inkopolis Plaza.

What was it doing here?

Inker and Kal entered to see that the shop was bustling with activity.

"Hello hello! Let me guess you're looking for weapons? Well you've come to the right place!" Came a familiar voice.

Sheldon was here, doing some silly dance and explaining the basics of his shop to a group of Inklings near the counter.

Watching the little goggled horsecrab go on and on about weapon sets and testing, Inker concluded this must have been the same Sheldon they knew.

"Yo Sheldon! Didn't expect to see you here!" Inker said

"Ahh if it isn't Craig's pupil, it's good to see more returning players. I see you still got the outdated Splattershot Pro set. Don't fret! I have the new set in stock!"

Wasting no time to secure a sale, Sheldon immediately began to show Inker the new Point Sensor and Ink Storm which were paired with newer Splattershot Pros.

Wanting to stop Sheldon from rambling on about his weapons, Inker hastily agreed to update his old set, then he decided to change the subject.

"Why are you here? What happened to your shop in Booyah base?"

"What that old place? It's nowhere near the Turf Wars lobby, how am I supposed to show off my weapons when there isn't anyone there?"

"Wow you really relocated fast."

"Gotta go with the flow if you want to make a profit. I was lucky there wasn't another weapon shop in the Galleria."

Sheldon then noticed Kalus stand there as well, he immediatly began to entice him into buying the new Slosher weapon set just as he did with Inker.

After that brief meeting with Sheldon, Inker and Kal continued around the Square, now with new sub and special weapons.

They didn't find any of the other shopkeepers from Booyah base, perhaps they had a harder time relocating compared to Sheldon.

Inker and Kal continued to the Deca Tower, heading for the new Turf Wars lobby when Kal stopped.

"What's wrong?" Inker asked.

Kal was feeling that same feeling, that sense of foreboding he had felt before.

He thought that it would be gone and forgotten once he confessed to Victoria, but it was still there.

Kal originally thought it was because he was the only one left out of Octo Valley, but he still had that feeling even when everyone was now with him in Inkopolis.

Maybe it was the entire Octarian civil war giving off that feeling, he couldn't just ignore Victoria and the others just because they were in Inkopolis Plaza now.

"I'm going back to the Plaza." Kal said.

"Can't get your mind off Victoria?"

"Not just her, everyone else too. I just don't like begin in the dark, not knowing what's happening to them right now."

Inker placed a hand on Kal's shoulder.

Honestly he was feeling something similar.

He had to separate from the New Octopolis army to hide his Agent 3 persona, that meant leaving things unfinished.

It didn't sit well with him either.

"I get it, Turf Wars isn't going anywhere, let's go back to the Plaza."

Inker and Kal weren't the only ones who couldn't ignore the Octarians in the Plaza.

* * *

Sky, having learned the Octarian language and befriended many of the Octarians, wondered how they were doing in the Plaza.

And after spending so much time in the dark and gloomy Octo Valley, going back to the high class Inkopolis lifestyle was strange.

High class?

Sky was never part of a high class society, why did he think that?

'_Maybe it was because of the poor living conditions in Octo Valley….' Sky thought for a moment_

…_.Or maybe it's because of this strange event happening before me.'_

By strange event, he meant the girl dining across the table from him.

She had sapphire coloured eyes and had her long, bright green hair all the way down.

Her shoulders were bare, thanks to the pure white evening dress, which accentuated her tan skin.

Sky watched his high class looking individual work on her meal from the outside in.

Unable to contain his confusion he muttered. "I don't even know who you are anymore."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Neon replied

In complete contrast to her usual loud and wild self, Neon looked like a mature beauty, who was well versed in the art of fine dining, her mannerisms matched the atmosphere as she and Sky were dining in an expensive terrace restaurant.

This whole thing had been her idea, though when Neon told Sky that she wanted to take him out for lunch, he never expected this.

Neon who would loudly slurp Ink shakes in Inkopolis Plaza and get her face and fingers messy by chowing down on fast food burgers, was expertly handling a knife and fork as she quietly ate a salmon steak.

It was a big surprise to Sky, that Neon even knew proper table manners to begin with.

"I know I said I liked that unpredictable side of you, but don't tell me you learnt all this in one day just to surprise me." Sky said.

Neon calmly swallowed her food, and wiped away a bit of seasoning caught in the corner of her lip before talking.

"Oh I'm used to this, if you must know I had a life before I discovered Turf Wars."

"A life that involved five star restaurants and formal wear?"

"Is that really hard to believe?"

"Just what did you do before you started playing turf?"

"Hmm… I'm not ready to talk about it yet."

Neon returned to her meal.

Sky, still finding it hard to believe Neon could behave in such a way, start to think about other things to make conversation.

"They shut down Inkopolis Plaza for Victoria and the others, you think Arcus knows what he's doing?"

"Sky, things like politics are taboo topics in places like this."

"I wouldn't know… No but you can't just ignore the Octarians there can you? I mean you should have gotten along well with some of them."

"Hmm, you're right, I wonder how that black haired captain is doing, sparring with her was really fun."

"Oh about that…."

"... I can guess what happened."

"Yeah."

"So that's why Victoria is in charge now huh?"

"Do you think Kal managed to reach her last night?"

"Why don't we find out, I bet he's at the Plaza right now. Ahh, but I need to change first."

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

Shortly after Neon and Sky returned home and changed into their turf war gear, Kal and Inker were standing as close as they could to the IPD blockades, separating Inkopolis from the new Octopolis Army.

Inkopolis Plaza was nowhere near as lively as before.

Kal noticed Victoria looking their way every now and then, but she seemed busy with something else.

A while later they saw a group of Octarians being escorted out of Inkopolis Plaza by the IPD.

Then as soon as they were gone, Victoria and the New Octopolis army leapt to their feet and rearranged every tent and makeshift shelter they had.

A few Inklings who were just hanging around the Plaza looked over at them with curiosity, then returned to their own business.

During this time, Neon and Sky arrived.

"Aha! I knew you'd be here!" Neon exclaimed.

"Where else would I be?"

"So? How did it go?"

"How did what go?"

"What else? I'm talking about you and Victoria of course!"

"Oh that… Well, I guess it went well."

"You guess? Did you get rejected or not?"

"No… Hey wait, why does it sound like you were expecting me to get shot down?"

"Oh no! I'd never want that, I've been shipping you two since day one!"

"Yeah well, you were right about us."

Kal turned back to the blockade and kept waving at Victoria hoping to get her attention.

He wasn't sure if Victoria was just ignoring him due to that bad omen, or if she was too busy to notice.

Lynn however did notice and approached the blockade.

"Hello Kal, were you trying to speak to the captain?"

"Yeah, why isn't she coming?"

"Victoria is a bit too busy with the rearrangement, also she doesn't want to raise any more flags. Don't worry though, we'll make sure she gets back to you safe."

Despite having a normal conversation, several IPD officers glanced their way as if making sure that neither of them tried to cross the blockade.

Inker approached Lynn as well.

"Anything from the Octarian army?"

"O-oh Agent 3."

"Please don't call me that here."

"S-sorry, Inker, we've only seen a messenger from Octo Valley pass through here, I don't know what happened, but it seems that Octavia is discussing things with your government. Actually you know one of them right? Can you maybe ask them how it went?"

"I'd have to find Cuttlefish for that."

"Please do, it would help us a lot."

"Okay I'll go do that, see you later."

Inker left to find Cuttlefish as the nearby IPD officers and Inklings looked over with curiosity.

As Inker left, a shout came from the other side of the blockade

"They're coming! The army is coming!"

Kal, Neon and Sky all pushed themselves against the blockade as several IPD officers extended their arms telling them to back away.

Over at the manhole, Octarians started pouring in one by one.

Victoria, Lynn and Eliza immediately fired upon them, as Octoballs and shielded Octotroopers began to cover the ground with bright Magenta Ink.

Kevin and the few Octostrikers that remained, took off and fired volleys of Inkstrikes, hammering the Octarian army as they passed through the manhole.

A few Octarians from the Octarian army made it and tried to cover some ground with their dark magenta ink, but were quickly splatted by Victoria and the other rebelling Octolings.

Things seemed to be going well for Victoria, much to Kal's relief.

It was easy for them to defend themselves when the only entrance was a small manhole.

"Whoa! Look at that! That's some large scale turf wars going on!" Someone shouted.

Kal looked over and saw some of the local Inklings taking an interest to the fighting.

However, in their eyes, they only saw it as a fun sport, since Inkopolis had respawn points these Inklings were completely unaware that the Octarians being splatted in front of them, were being permanently killed.

Some of them even started cheering as if they were watching a normal Turf War game.

Kal really wanted to give them a mouthful, but he wasn't the type to start fights.

Instead he only glared the nearby Inklings who began to crowd at the barricade to watch the New Octopolis army take on the Octarian army.

Some were even holding snacks, munching on them as they enjoyed the sight of Octarians taking each other's lives, totally oblivious to the truth.

As for Victoria and the Octarians, they were too busy fighting one another to notice.

Octavia was sending Octotroopers, Octolings and Octocopters through the manhole one by one.

They didn't let a single one escape back through the manhole.

After only two minutes, the fighting stopped as the Octarian army realized they couldn't just charge in.

Victoria and the New Octopolis army suffered nearly no losses and breathed a sigh of relief.

It would be hard for Octavia to get to them here.

Now why were there whistles and cheers coming from the blockade?

There were a lot of Inklings there, the IPD officers prevent them from going any further.

They looked... happy?

Some were even shouting 'congratulations'.

"Those squids…. Do they think this is some sort of game?" Eliza sneered.

From what she had seen, Victoria knew it was true "Sadly yes."

"Disgusting, we aren't here to put on a show."

"N-now, please calm down, they probably just misunderstand." Lynn assured Eliza.

"Eliza, please focus on the war for now." Victoria ordered.

Eliza sighed, "Yes of course, I'll go check on everyone right now."

"Don't forget to salvage what you can from the defeated Octarians."

Eliza ran around, checking those with enemy ink splattered on them.

Lynn as well began to check on the others, at the same time she sifted through the gear left behind by those that were splatted.

As for Victoria she started to wonder how long they would last.

Octavia wasn't stupid, she would definitely try new ways of breaking through their lines.

Victoria began to run simulations through her head, she tried to think of ways she could break her own defense.

'_Leading with Octocopters and having them fly high to distract the initial defenders, then having Octoballs roll through to pave the ground for the army behind them might work. They could probably fly saucers in, since we lack any fliers to effectively engage them. A few Shielded Octotroopers might also make a good troop to lead with.'_

Then she planned countermeasures for them.

If they tried to distract them with Octocopters, she could easily assign one group to attack only those who are just entering the manhole.

If they flew saucers in, she didn't have much other option than to refit some Octotroopers with those propeller helmets and make them temporary Octocopters.

If they lead with a Vanguard of Shielded Octotroopers, they could easily surround the manhole and fire at them from their exposed sides, or maybe have Kevin sink an Inkstrike into them.

As Victoria racked her brain over any possible scenario, she noticed Kal was still watching her and waving at her.

He really wanted to get her attention.

With a sigh, Victoria nodded towards him to show that at least she knew he was there.

That was enough for Kal to stop waving.

Now, back to defense.

* * *

A while later Inker returned, having spoken with Cuttlefish and Arcus.

"Lynn!" he shouted, getting the attention of the pony tailed Octoling.

Lynn hurried over, whatever information Inker had, could be useful.

"You're back, we just fended off the first attack. So what did you find out?"

"Arcus says that, the area around the manhole is considered Octo Valley for the time being, so they aren't going to force any of you out, but they won't stop Octavia and the Octarian army from attacking either."

"So we are really on our own?"

"Sorry."

"Don't be, this is our fight in the first place."

Before Lynn headed back, Kal chimed in.

"What about Victoria? Is she holding up well?"

"She seems to have things under control, don't worry." Lynn assured him.

"Oh that's good. I noticed she was using a Blaster now, where did she get that?"

"Oh that was from the purple Inkling who is part Vale now. Hey speaking of her, where is she?"

"Oh you mean Lila? She's probably back at the orphanage, want me to bring her over?"

"Ahh, no need, but if you can, please tell her that we'll welcome her back into the Splatoon with open arms!"

"Please don't bring Lila back into this."

"Ahh s-sorry, I just miss the old captain…"

"You know what, I think I should bring her here sometime."

"Really? That would be great. Thanks"

As Lynn turned and left, a few Inklings Kal had never seen before came running over.

"Hey, were you just chatting with that Octoling?" One of them asked.

Kal was suddenly worried, he remembered how earlier some Inklings were shouting at the IPD to throw the Octarians out of Inkopolis so they could turf again, how did these Inklings feel about the New Octopolis army?

Still he was just talking to Lynn, so he couldn't just lie and play it off.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Cool! Hey! Think you can tell them how awesome they looked?"

"Huh?"

"We were watching that whole battle! They have some awesome teamwork! I wish my turf war teams were half as coordinated as them." One Inkling said

"Hey you think they'd be interested in our smaller scale Turf wars?" His friend added.

Kal really wanted to explain things to them, how they weren't playing some large scale version of Turf Wars but rather having an actual war.

Instead these Inklings were completely oblivious and were acting as if they had just seen some new role models.

It was somewhat annoying.

* * *

The next day, Kal, Inker, Neon and Sky returned to the Plaza again.

This time however, they found that there were much more Inklings there.

Kal went "Wha?" as he saw large crowds of Inklings gathered near the barrier.

Yesterday, there had only been a few dozen Inklings here after the Turf Wars lobby was moved, but today there was easily two hundred something Inklings hanging around the Plaza.

"What happened?" Inker wondered.

All those Inklings seemed eager to watch another battle between Victoria's group and the Octarian army.

Sky immediately pulled out his phone to start searching the web for any information on what's going on.

Then he found it, one of the Inklings that was hanging out in the Plaza at the time of the first battle had recorded some of it.

From what he saw and what he showed Inker, Kal and Neon, the local Inklings didn't even understand that this was an actual civil war, instead they thought it was some kind of game.

Apparently, the way the New Octopolis army fought attracted quite a bit of attention, as they were well coordinated and fought as a team.

Now there were Inklings here to watch their next exciting battle, whenever it happened.

The crowd of Inklings drew some suspicious gazes from the Octarians, who were confused as to why they were there.

"Inker! Kal!"

Lynn was approaching the barrier again.

"Wh-what's with that mob? Don't tell me there's a new Vanguard Movement trying to destroy us." She asked nervously.

Behind her, were some other Octoling and some Octotroopers as well.

They all looked nervously at the Inkling crowd sitting not too far from the blockade.

"They aren't going to kick you out, if anything, they're your fans." Kal reassured Lynn.

"Fans?"

"FANS!?" Came a more angry voice from behind Lynn.

"Ahh, Eliza! When did you get there?" Lynn exclaimed

"That's not important, hey red guy! What's this business about 'fans'?! Do you really think we are here performing for Inkopolis?"

Kal jumped back, he didn't have much contact with Eliza before, so even though he had known her for a while, it was the first time he actually talked with this Octoling with a short fuse.

"D-don't blame me! Some Inklings just admire your skills and coordination, that's all."

"Yeah! You guys are surprisingly popular!" Neon added

As Kal and friends tried to explain things to Lynn, Eliza and the other Octarians, the nearby Inklings started to take note of their conversation.

Most of the Inklings here didn't know much about the Octarians, there were a few bad rumors that they stole the great zapfish sometime before, but it was returned so all was good.

When they first saw them, they couldn't really care what they were doing, but after watching them fight to them it was a pretty cool thing to watch.

However those serious looks and strange goggles made them seem a bit unapproachable.

Plus there was all that history between them and Inkopolis, Octarians were said to be selfish and evil by some.

But right now, they saw four normal Inklings who were around their age, calmly talking with some of those serious looking Octarians

A few courageous Inklings stood up and walked towards the blockade.

"This isn't supposed to be some public event!" Eliza complained

"Even so it's not bad getting attention right?" Inker said

The Inklings watched for a bit longer, then they gathered the courage to tell these visitors how cool they were.

"H-hey u-umm, even if you aren't fighting just for show, you all seem pretty cool you know." One Inkling said.

"Oh well, uhh thanks." Eliza said.

"Yeah the way you all watch each others back when fighting, just awesome! I saw the whole thing and I don't think I saw anyone of your team get splatted!"

"Gee, uhh that's just the way we were trained…" even though Eliza didn't look any less displeased, she appeared to be flattered by these comments.

A few Octotroopers did not understand what the Inklings said, so they asked the Octolings to translate for them.

"You guys train for this? No wonder you all look so serious."

"Yes yes, that's because…" Eliza was about to give her views on Octarian pride, but somebody's shout cut her off.

"AHHHH!" Shouted a smoldering Octostriker plummeting down from the sky.

Eliza sighed, and hurried towards the downed Octostriker.

"Dammit Kevin! I told you the sun is hot! Why do you keep trying to fly that high!"

With Eliza gone, the Inkling's praise was directed to Lynn, who was just as flattered.

"No I'm just a regular Octoling, it's really all thanks to the captain that we are here.." She stammered

Seeing how there was no danger in talking, more Inklings came over to the blockade, to a point where the IPD started focusing on that one point, making sure nobody tried to pass.

"Who designed that gear by the way! It looks real fresh!"

"How do you get that purple outline around your eyes?"

Questions like these were asked by the Inklings, and a few flattered Octolings replied, adding in their own comments about the gear the Inklings were wearing.

In the end, they completely forgot about Inker, Kal, Neon and Sky and began to gossip with the local Inklings, though still under the gaze of the IPD.

Spending another day at the Plaza, Inker, Kal, Neon and Sky watched as more Inklings began to open up to the Octolings of the New Octopolis army.

* * *

When Inker and co arrived the next day, there were even more Inklings in the Plaza.

And a good majority of them were pressed against the blockade, talking to some of Victoria's troops.

From what they could hear however, it was less about the war and more about hobbies and fashion sense.

Though the Inklings were only talking with the Octolings, there were some other species of Octarians nearby who looked like they wanted to join in.

Kal wanted to check in with Lynn to see how things were going, but Lynn and all the other nearby Octolings were already talking with someone else.

Instead he turned to Sky

"You can speak Octarian right? You think you can ask those guys over there how things are going?" Kal said pointing to the other Octarians who could not communicate with the average Inkling.

There were Octotroopers, Octoballs and that big Octostriker who flew too close to the sun yesterday.

Actually Sky knew that last one, that was the same Octostriker called Kevin, who was always asking him about the real sky back in Octo Valley.

"Wow, you look a bit toasted." Sky said, in a language unfamiliar to the Inklings around him.

Kevin, ever the chatterbox, was glad to see a familiar face.

"Hah! This is a mark of pride! If I'm going to fly even higher I have to get used to that scorching heat! Believe it or not, I can actually fly much faster here than in Octo Valley." Kevin said

"Well the air is thinner up there."

"That's pretty cool, I wish we were able to bring the saucers along, I think Tony and my other pals would love to see Inkopolis from such height."

"So would I, hey if you ever move to Inkopolis, you should start some kind of flying saucer tour company."

"You know what, I think I might just do that."

"Yo! You speak Octarian?" one Inkling asked Sky.

"Yeah."

"Where did you learn that? That's awesome. Hey ask that big guy over there why he was on fire yesterday!"

And so, Sky ended up translating for some curious Inklings.

* * *

Everyday Inker, Kal, Neon and Sky would return to the Plaza, they would see Octarians and Inklings talking over the blockade.

By the fifth day, it had become a common sight.

"It looks like Inkopolis doesn't hate the Octarians after all." Inker said.

"Just like with me and Victoria, once you actually get the chance to know them, they aren't anything like the rumors say." Kal added

Inker thought back to his original goal: show the Octarians that Inklings didn't have to be their enemy and reunite the two races.

That goal seemed closer than ever here.

"Well then, maybe Inkopolis and Octo Valley can finally reunite after this…"

"I hope so…"

Sky soon joined the crowd of Inklings, some of them recognised him and immediately asked his to translate something for them.

Then something else happened.

"The army is coming! The army is coming!"

In response to this shout, all the Octarians immediately hopped into defensive positions.

Octolings and Octosnipers pointed their weapons at the manhole, Octoballs and Octotroopers began inking the ground around the manhole.

With a determined look in their eyes, the entire New Octopolis army stood, waiting for the second attack to commence.

"Oh! I think they are about to fight!" One Inkling exclaimed

"Oh yes! I want to see, move over!"

"Please! Settle down! For your own safety please stay on this side of the blockade." an IPD officer said.

As for Kal he immediately pushed his way to the front of the crowd, ignoring the complaints of the other Inklings, he had to see if Victoria was in trouble or not.

He saw her, holding a Blaster and firing at a shielded Octotrooper who had come through the manhole.

This time, the Octarian army begun their attack with shielded Octotroopers.

The shielded Octotroopers were completely surrounded when they arrived, so there was always someone ready to splat them from behind.

But soon, enough shielded Octotroopers had made it past the manhole to create a shield wall around it.

As they hovered forward, Octocopters and Octolings began pouring through the manhole.

Kal watched in horror as the New Octopolis army began to lose ground.

Victoria however wasn't worried.

This was one of the scenarios she had planned for.

"Splat bomb volley! Now!"

Victoria and all the other Octolings on her side threw Splatbombs towards the New Octopolis army.

Some ricocheted off the Octotroopers' shields, while others managed to make it over and deal damage to the Octarian army.

Still it wasn't very effective.

The Octarian army now had some parts around the manhole claimed and more were still coming.

Victoria saw her troopers getting splatted and had to act quick.

"Alright, now where's that Kevin? Tell him to start firing already!" Victoria ordered.

"I'm on it!"

Victoria saw the inkstrike being fired.

As the missile made a smooth arc in the air, the Octarian army began to scramble.

"An opening! Everyone attack!"

As soon as the Octarian army broke formation they were vulnerable, so Victoria and her troops fired at them with everything they had.

Eventually the Octarian army retreated.

However this time, things didn't go as well as the first time.

As Victoria and the New Octopolis army regrouped, they were missing a good portion of their forces.

The majority lost had been the Octoballs and Octotroopers who were covering turf, but there were others lost too.

As Victoria had Lynn count the number of fallen, they heard another cheer emanating from the blockade.

The Inklings there still didn't know just how serious this was.

"Alright that's it, I'm going over there to set things straight." Eliza said

"H-hey wait! You were getting along with them so well just earlier! Stop!" Lynn chased after Eliza.

Eliza and Lynn were met with cheers when they approached the blockade, more Inklings started to congratulate them.

But the most infuriating were the ones saying "good match" or "good game!"

"Don't you have better things to do!" Eliza shouted

"Ahh, d-don't mind her, she's a little cranky after losing a few comrades." Lynn assured the crowd.

"Let go of me Lynn! And you all listen up! This isn't some damn game! Stop acting like you're watching some sport!"

"Oh, sorry it looked like you were playing Turf Wars just now." one Inkling replied

"It was a Turf War, but it's not a game!"

"Turf Wars isn't a game for you?" One Inkling said,

"Oh that's one tryhard Octoling." another added.

Eliza was getting even further annoyed

"Didn't you see us getting splatted?!"

"Jeez, why are you making such a big deal out of it? Everyone makes mistakes."

"Yeah just console them once they've respawned and all will be fine."

The Inklings didn't understand why Eliza was so angry, but then Eliza said something which struck them hard.

"Who's respawning? What are you joking about?"

"Huh?!" came the shocked voices of the many Inklings.

Some of them thought at first that maybe Eliza was joking, but one look at her pissed off face was enough to prove she wasn't.

"D-don't you have a respawn point nearby?" One Inkling asked

"What's a respawn point?" Eliza answered with a question of her own.

"N-now hold on, playing turf without a respawn point is-"

"I told you! We aren't playing?! Didn't you hear? We are here because we've been chased out of Octo Valley! This isn't some game of ours! We are here fighting for our lives!"

All the Inklings stared at Eliza with disbelief.

"Umm, wait… I was just talking with an Octoling named Jess… I think I saw her get splatted so does that mean?"

"Oh, then she's dead." Eliza replied

The Inklings let out a collective gasp.

"Dead? That means they aren't respawning anywhere… right?"

Eliza and Lynn nodded.

In Inkopolis, Inklings could respawn, so they never even had to worry about things like murder or accidental deaths.

So to hear that someone they had just been talking to was now gone forever, it was a big shock to all of them.

"So you guys aren't some big Turf team?"

"Of course not!" Eliza snapped

"And those other Octarians, who are they?"

"The Octarian army."

"Why are they after you?"

"Isn't it obvious? We don't want to live under DJ Octavio's control and they won't allow it! We aren't here by choice, rather we are here because there is nowhere left for us to run!" Now that these Inklings were finally understanding their struggles, Eliza continued explaining everything.

"These Octarians with me now? They are called the New Octopolis army, dedicated to bringing Octo Valley back to a time before DJ Octavio took over."

"It's a bit small for an army.." Someone commented

"Well sorry if it doesn't meet your expectations, but this is all that's left. You think we weren't already fighting before coming to Inkopolis? Think again!"

The Inklings who had been cheering and congratulating the Octarians, now shriveled in shame as Eliza scolded them.

The only ones who didn't were Inker, Kal, Neon and Sky, for they already knew everything.

Eliza noticed Inker in the crowd, who smiled at her as if to say 'good job' Eliza only gave a grunt and turned away.

As for the Inklings who had been oblivious this whole time, they were not going to make the same mistake.

* * *

The next day, the number of Inklings in Inkopolis Plaza had multiplied dramatically.

There were almost as much Inklings here as there were for the Final Splatfest.

But this time, they weren't here for the New Octopolis army, rather they were here for the IPD.

"Give them a respawn point!" Some shouted

"Let them into Inkopolis!"

"Tear down that blockade!"

The idea of being unable to respawn, to lose your entire life was too much to take for the average Inkling.

This was the vast difference between Octarian and Inkling.

Problems which had become accepted by the poor Octarians of Octo Valley, was huge and unbelievable to the Inklings of Inkopolis.

In response to this mob, the IPD officers now held shields in case the mob got violent.

News reporters flocked around the scene, as Inklings shouted at the IPD to help the New Octopolis army.

The IPD however, were under orders not to intervene.

Some Inklings knew this, and a second mob was outside the Inkopolis Parliament building.

* * *

**Parliament building, Inkopolis**

In response to the new protests, Prime minister Steenson had once again called the ministers for an emergency meeting.

"They just want us to give the rebels a respawn point right? Why not just do that?"

"You don't get it Harting, the only reason Inkopolis is safe without an army is because we are the only ones with the ability to respawn, we can't just give this technology to someone else."

"But the New Octopolis Army doesn't seem hostile in any way."

"Not yet, plus what if they still manage to lose? Then the Octarian Army will get their hands on respawn points! We'll end up having respawning Octarians putting us under siege!"

"Besides we can't just openly help out the New Octopolis army, remember what that Octarian emissary said? They were keeping a close eye on us remember?"

As his ministers argued, Steenson felt that headache return.

He couldn't understand why the public were all trying to take some good Samaritan role with a bunch of Octarians they just met.

"As long as nothing and no one passes the blockade in the Plaza, Octo Valley has no reason to declare war, so we can't just send a respawn point to the rebels." he reminded the ministers.

"Prime minister, I understand you are worried about the possibility of a second Great Turf War, but now that things have blown up, wouldn't it be better for us to just pick a side instead of remaining as bystanders?" Arcus asked

"Nonsense! The Octarian army hasn't crossed our borders so we must remain neutral."

"They've already made it pretty far into the plaza that last time."

"As long as they don't cross the blockade, they aren't technically in Inkopolis."

"But sir, this is the Octarian army we are talking about, if they wipe out the New Octopolis army, there isn't anything stopping them from continuing their warpath into Inkopolis."

"So then we put a respawn point in the Plaza for our own use."

"That won't satisfy the public though."

"The public only sees what they want, just like with the Vanguard movement, these New Octopolis supporters don't understand a thing!"

"That was completely different! The Vanguard movement was about creating an army, right now we are talking about Octarians fighting inside our capital city!"

That's between them and doesn't concern us! I don't want to hear anything more from you Arcus! I have heard your counsel but my decision stands, we won't do anything!"

Arcus sighed.

"As you wish sir."

"Good, is there anything else anyone has to say?"

There was a brief pause, but then Arcus spoke up again.

"Actually something just came up, it seems like Octarian saucers are entering Inkopolis airspace."

"Didn't you hear what I just said? They are just here for the New Octopolis army! Ignore them!"

Arcus didn't like this one bit.

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

Kal, Inker, Neon and Sky watched as a respawn point was brought into the Plaza.

But it was placed a good distance away from the blockade and out of sight from the New Octopolis army.

"Hey! Bring that closer! How are the Octarians supposed to use something they can't even see!" someone complained

"This respawn point is here for your safety, not for the Octarians." an IPD officer said

"They need it more than us!"

"Boo!"

As they watched the nearly Inklings shout at the IPD, Kal noticed something in the sky.

Round grey objects were coming into view.

Victoria must have seen it too because she and the New Octopolis army were scrambling to take their positions again.

Victoria had pictured this scenario too, where Octavia would realize that Inkopolis had no army to stop her from violating it's airspace and assault them from the skies.

To counter that, she had some Octotroopers abandon their hovercraft and wear Octocopter helmets, allowing them to fly.

Kevin and the Octostrikers here would also play an integral part of this defense.

Meanwhile Victoria, Lynn, Eliza and the other ground based Octarians would be ready to deal with any drop pods the saucer released.

They watched as the saucer got closer and closer.

Kal watched as well.

He was hoping that Victoria had everything planned out.

As he watched the saucers get closer and pick up speed, he felt that something wasn't right.

Then he noticed the strange sight of some Octarians hopping out and flying away on their own.

He didn't know anything about military tactics, but he could guess what this was.

Desperately, he tried to climb over the blockade, only for two IPD officers to grab him.

Unable to get any further he shouted "Victoria! Look out! Don't stand there! run!"

Hearing this Victoria looked over and saw Kal struggle in the grasp of Inkopolis police officers.

What did he mean?

Then she noticed it too.

The Octarian saucers that were approaching looked completely out of control.

As they were normally piloted by Octostrikers, Victoria squinted and saw those Octostriker pilots flying away.

This could only mean one thing.

"Everyone! Run! Scatter!"

Those saucers were not going to hover and fire at them, they weren't going to release drop pods, they were going to pummel them with themselves.

Dozens of Octarian saucers came crashing down on Inkopolis plaza.

There were loud noises, screams from the nearby Inklings and Octarians alike.

Hot chunks of buildings and pavement was kicked up everywhere.

Victoria looked up, trying to avoid the falling saucers when she noticed they weren't all hitting them.

Since there was no one piloting them, some strayed towards the IPD blockade and the Inklings.

Then she saw Kal, the two officers pinning him down had bolted, Kal looked up in shock then tried to run as a flaming saucer came crashing down.

Victoria didn't see what happened to him after, the metal rain seemed to last forever.

When it finally stopped Victoria's ears were still ringing.

There was dirt on her face and a huge pain in one of her arms.

But she was still alive.

The same couldn't be said for the area around her.

Debris of Inkopolis Plaza was scattered everywhere.

Octarians and Inklings alike lay about.

Some managed to get back up, others called for help.

"E-everyone! If you are unhurt please get up!" Victoria ordered.

Only a few dozen Octarians got up.

Eliza was among them, she dusted herself off and found an Octoshot.

However the same could not be said for the rest.

"Ahhh! I can't! I can't feel my wing!" Kevin shouted, one of his wings had nearly been torn clean off, and now barely hung on to the rest of his body.

"Someone help him!" Victoria ordered and a battered Eliza rushed over to his aid.

"Lynn? Lynn! Where are you?! I want a report now!"

"S-sorry, I don't think I can manage…." Came a weak voice.

"Oh cod, Lynn!"

Half of Lynn's body was badly damaged by scalding hot debris, some bits of metal had been lodged into her skin and she was bleeding bad.

"I can't believe this…" Someone said.

As Victoria wondered what she could possibly do now, she looked towards the tents that held the unarmed Octarians.

It too, was destroyed, but it seems like everyone inside heard her call and ran out in time.

Her former roommate Violet, who was once a paramedic for Octo Valley was tending to some other wounded Octarians.

Victoria called her over, and placed Lynn in her care.

As she scanned her surroundings, she noticed some Inkopolis ambulances pull up and begin taking injured Inklings away.

Now that the attack had ended, IPD officers were returning to man the blockade, as news reporters began reporting on the disaster that struck the plaza.

Victoria noticed just how many Inkopolis emergency vehicles had arrived.

Perhaps they could spare some for her injured.

As she walked towards the blockade for the first time, she noticed a familiar red Inkling being loaded up into the back of an ambulance.

Victoria relaxed a little.

Kal might very well be as badly injured as Lynn, Kevin and many others, but at least he was in good hands.

_'Yes Kal will make it, I'm sure of it! He is pretty tough after all… Not tough like me but in his own gentle and kind way..'_

However as she approached the Inklings she was soon stopped by a burly IPD officer.

"Stop there, the border to Inkopolis is here."

"Hey come on now, why can't you give us a hand? We don't have proper medical equipment and we have much more wounded than you!"

"Sorry, we can't cross the border."

"Damn you! Don't you have any common sense!? Octavia just destroyed a part of your city and you're still worried about borders!?"

"Apologies miss, but orders are orders."

Victoria scowled, then she shouted at the closest Inkling paramedic

"Hey you! Can't you toss over some medpacks or something!"

The paramedic looked at the IPD officer, who shook his head, then he ignored Victoria.

The IPD officer spoke to Victoria one more time.

"Please stop trying to get Inkopolis involved, i'm sorry to say this, but the prime minister won't let us do anything as it could be seen as a declaration of war to Octo Valley."

"What?! Look around you! Not just us, but some of your people are hurt because of Octavia!"

"An accident i'm sure."

"An accident?! Did this seem like an accident to you?"

"Of course not, but like I said, we can't do anything, I'm sorry."

"Fine then."

Victoria left in a sour mood.

Did all Inklings lack common sense?

She looked back at the blockade, where there were still tons of Inklings gathered.

She looked at Violet, who was laying out all the wounded Octarians near what used to be a shelter for non combattants.

Then Victoria had an idea.

"Move all the wounded over there!" She ordered, pointing at the blockade.

"Huh? But what good would that do? We should really start treating them as best we can-"

"Just do it, it's better to move them as far away from the manhole as possible."

"Uhh, okay."

"Besides Inkopolis won't budge unless we do something. So we'll show them our wounds, our people in need, we have to shame them into helping us."

The remaining Octarians started to move their wounded towards the IPD blockade.

Kevin who had nearly lost a wing.

Lynn who was completely burned and scarred on one side.

The Octotrooper who was impaled by a rebar

The Octoling who had lost her eyes.

And many others

As the wounded Octarians groaned in pain, the IPD officers and Inklings looked uneasy.

"Ma'am may I ask you to please move these folks elsewhere?" One officer asked

Victoria didn't comply.

"Where else is there? This is the furthest we can get from the manhole so it's the safest for them."

"Well I understand that, but you are making others uncomfortable."

"Then tell them to leave! These Octarians are fighting for their lives! We don't have time to worry about your comfort!" Victoria shouted

The officer went silent and returned to observing.

Victoria, satisfied, head back towards the manhole.

Seeing this, the few Octarians who were still fit for fighting followed her.

"What should we do now?" Eliza asked

"There's not much we can do, defend ourselves the best we can for now."


	46. One Step to Greater Things

**Inkopolis Plaza**

"The Octarian army is coming!"

Victoria had been prepared to hear those words half an hour ago, but now she dreaded them.

Inkopolis Plaza and what remained of her New Octopolis army had just been bombarded with Octarian saucers only moments ago.

Victoria and whoever was still standing, didn't even have time to move all their wounded to a safe place, half of them were laid down near the IPD blockade, while another half were still lying on what used to be a tent near Inkopolis tower.

Victoria, Eliza and all the rebelling Octarians who were still strong enough to fight quickly rushed to the manhole and tried to cover as much turf as possible.

However they weren't fast enough, nor were they as many as before.

Knowing that a massive force awaited them Eliza said "We can't last very long out here!"

"I know that!" Victoria snapped.

She quickly looked around, where else could she go?

The IPD won't let her any further into Inkopolis so she had no choice but to stay in the Plaza and the Plaza was completely open to attack now.

The buildings around them had been destroyed and rubble lay everywhere.

Inkopolis Tower was damaged but still stood, however it was far too close to the manhole and was unreachable.

The shops to the west had mostly crumbled, but a few were still standing.

Victoria ordered everyone to fall back there, especially the Octoballs, who could at least cover some ground while rolling back.

Among the ruins of Booyah base, Victoria and her remaining Octolings stood in the windowless husks of the stores.

Octosnipers set up on whichever buildings still had a roof, Octoballs quickly covered the entire west side of Inkopolis Plaza.

Finally, Octotroopers took whatever they could find lying around, using them as makeshift shields and placing them right behind the weapon on their hovercrafts.

However, before Violet and the non combattant Octarians could move all the wounded to one place the Octarian army arrived, in a similar style to their second attack.

A wall of shielded Octotroopers, followed by a swarm of Octocopters, then Octolings and Octoballs followed.

Victoria noticed that there was a much larger number of Twintacle Octotroopers among the enemy this time.

There was also movement in the enemy's ink, so it was possible they had Octodivers too.

And behind all that, the Elite Octolings, including Octavia arrived.

"Eeeek!"

Noticing this sudden army emerge behind them, Violet and the Octarians who were not fighters quickly dropped whatever they had and ran to hide behind Victoria and her soldiers.

"S-sorry, we couldn't get everyone to safety." Violet said.

They had left Lynn, Kevin and many other Octarians who were wounded from the iron rain.

They were already suffering, moaning in pain and requiring medical care, but going out for them now was too risky.

Victoria noticed Lynn struggle to tilt her head towards them, gritting her teeth in pain.

Then she mouthed something along the lines of 'leave us'.

Victoria closed her eyes and silently apologized to the wounded she had left by the IPD blockade.

It was normal for Octarians to die everyday in Octo Valley, so they should have grown accustomed to loss by now.

Yet after spending so much time fighting alongside these Octarains, Victoria couldn't help but feel saddened.

Looking at the face of Eliza and the other remaining soldiers, she could tell they felt the same way.

Unfortunately there was nothing else they could do in their current state.

They were already hanging on by a slim thread.

All they could do was steel themselves for the upcoming assault

* * *

**...**

**...**

**.**

**.**

Everything was cloudy

Was it actual clouds? Or was it just blurry vision?

Kal remembered being in the Plaza, trying to reach Victoria when he realized those Octarian saucers were going to come crashing down on them.

He was held back by the IPD, and could only shout at her before his mouth was covered too.

Then it was chaos.

He had been held down so he didn't see much, but there was crashing and shouting.

His ears started ringing and then darkness.

Where was he now?

It was bright, Kal could make out several colours in the distance.

Blue, purple, orange, pink…

Where was he?

Kal rubbed his eyes, everything still looked cloudy, but he could see approaching splotches of colour.

Then as they got closer, he realized the colours were actually both squid and octopi floating around in the air.

One of them noticed him and flew over.

"It's been a while, remember me?" the octopus said.

"Uhhh."

"No? How about now?"

With a flash, the octopus became an Octoling.

Though it still didn't ring any bells at first, Kal did notice one thing familiar about this one Octoling.

She had a scar on one of her cheeks.

"Oh! I remember! You are…. Uhhh….." Kal struggled to remember the name of this Octoling he met only once before.

"Come on, you can do it." she encouraged Kal to remember.

Kal had seen this Octoling once all the way back when he was captured and locked up in Melanin prison.

There he met Lynn and two others…

So this one standing before him was named…

"...Claire! Yeah that was it! Right?"

"Bingo! that's my name."

'Where am I?"

"I don't know."

Then more octopi came floating over

"Oh, if it isn't Agent 3's friend."

"Ahh you met him too captain?"

An Octoling with black tentacles whose presence Kal once feared and another Octoling from Melanin prison.

Captain Emily Vale and Madison.

"Hold on a second Vale, I heard from Inker that you threw yourself into a lake. Does that mean…"

Before he could finish, some squid came floating over.

"Hey Hey, it's the little red head." One squid said and he took the form of a massive orange Inkling.

"Kal, we probably got off on bad terms, but i'm still glad to see you." Said another, who was a purple Inkling with a similar height and build to Kal.

Kal had a much easier time recognizing these two, because even though he did not know them very well, their actions had left a big mark in his memories.

"Bogs and Laven?" Kal asked

"Gold star." Laven smiled

These two, Kal wasn't completely sure about Captain Vale, Madison and Claire, but with these two he was certain.

"You two are both dead! Wait hold on, does that mean I…."

Kal dreaded to finish his question.

Could this be the death flag Victoria mentioned?

Now that he thought about it, Victoria did confess to him under the impression that he would be safe.

"Does that mean what?" Laven asked.

"Oh umm…. Nothing…" Kal said.

Now he understood what were those squid and octopi floating around.

He remembered how in Turf Wars, he would see a ghostly squid fly upwards every time someone was splatted. Those ghosts would then return to a spawn point.

Kal remembered seeing similar octopus ghosts fly away from the remains of splatted Octolings.

'_Wait no! How could this happen!? I thought there was a spawn point in the plaza!'_

Kal grabbed his head and shook it furiously, hoping he could shake away the scenario he feared.

'_Maybe only Inklings who are splatted can respawn? Maybe I died in some other way?'_

"Well if it isn't Kal… I had hoped not to see you again so soon." Those words bore no ill meaning, the one who said it sounded sad.

Two more Octolings appeared.

They looked even older than Captain Vale, Kal also remembered who they were.

Robert and Maria Holter, Victoria's parents, the same ones who burned to death buying time for Kal and Victoria to escape.

Kal didn't want to believe it, he didn't want to believe he was dead, not yet.

'_Stop showing me all these individuals from the past!'_

It was getting harder to deny what he thought was true.

"L-lieutenant Holter?! You've met him too?!" Captain Vale stammered.

It was probably the first time Kal ever heard her stammer.

"Emily! No wait, it's Captain now. I need to stop doing that." Maria replied with a nostalgic look in her eyes.

"I don't mind, not at all! You call me whatever you like."

As those around him began to reconcile Kal tuned them out.

Technically it still wasn't confirmed, but the more he thought about it the more believable it became.

_'I died didn't I?'_

Kal started tearing up just a little bit.

'_In the end I still wasn't able to do anything significant, I was still so useless even in my own city…'_

Claire stared at him, clearly reading every expression he made.

"Hey now, don't feel down. You did great out there." She said

"Did I really? But I couldn't even do anything worthwhile."

"What are you saying?!" Laven exclaimed "It's all thanks to you that Lila can keep going and live her life without us. I couldn't say it before, but thank you for looking after my sister."

"!" Kal had forgotten about that.

"Thank you for helping Lynn earn Agent 3's trust too!" Madison and Vale said.

"And thank you for bringing our family back together, even if it was only for one night." Robert said.

"Most importantly thank you for looking out for our daughter all this time. I knew I could depend on you." Maria added.

Kal smiled.

He was still a bit sad, but at the same time happy.

The only one present who had nothing to thank him for was Bogs, who stood there with his massive arms crossed, he gazed outwards into the horizon, away from the rest.

".. You know, maybe if I had listened to you and calmed down, things wouldn't be this bad… Maybe I wouldn't have been boiled alive, maybe the Vanguard movement would have never happened." Bogs said.

"It won't be easy for Inklings and Octarians to get along, but as long as they aren't super aggressive like me, maybe things will work out." He added, with a distant look in his eyes.

"Come on man! What are you talking about? Haven't you been paying attention? Inklings and Octarians are already getting along thanks to Kal." Laven said

"H-huh? Really?" Kal was sure he didn't hear that right.

"Yeah! All those Inklings you saw in the Plaza, the only reason they felt brave enough to talk with Octolings was thanks to you."

"But how? I didn't do anything."

"You did, you were the one they saw talking with Lynn." Claire explained

"But Inker was the one who called her over…"

"Yeah but can you really relate to Inker?" Laven added "I mean that guy is an Agent and all he did was relay what the Defense minister said. But you mentioned Blasters and Inklings, things I can actually understand you know?"

Kal still didn't get it.

He wasn't an Agent of Inkopolis, he wasn't some hero of Octo Valley, nor a soldier, nor an idol, he was just a normal Inkling, what influence could he possibly have over those other Inklings?

Claire, once again reading Kal's face, told the others. "He still doesn't get it."

"You probably think that because you aren't anything special, you couldn't possibly have had an effect on things. Captain Vale said. "But that is just not true, it's precisely because you are who you are that other Inklings felt encouraged to speak with the Octarians. See someone once told me…. Actually that someone is right here, Holter know what I'm about to say right? why don't you explain." Vale turned to Maria

Maria hovered forward. "The first step is always the most difficult, but once somebody takes that step, the rest comes naturally. You, a normal Inkling, was able to speak confidently with an Octarian. Seeing that, the other Inklings nearby would naturally feel more at ease with speaking to Octarians themselves."

"You see? You weren't completely useless after all! So quit doubting yourself." Laven added.

"I see.."

Thanks to them, Kal was feeling a bit better.

"Thank you… I guess now I can die with one less regret…."

"Don't die just yet, you're still young and have a whole future ahead of you." Robert said.

"Huh?" Kal squeaked

"Yeah, you're an Inkling, save that for once you are at least past my age." Vale added

"Huh?" Kal said again.

"Or at the very least. Make my daughter happy first." Maria added

"Wait, hold on. Am I not dead? Is this not some sort of afterlife?"

"Not at all." Madison said.

"Then how are all of you here? Is this a dream?"

"I dunno" Bogs replied.

"Then what is this?"

"How are we supposed to know?" Claire asked "I just happened to notice you passing by."

Now Kal was confused.

"Wait, then where…. Am….. I….. Now?" Kal began to struggle, he was suddenly feeling heavier by the moment.

"Ahh it's time." Vale said. For some reason the images of Inklings and Octolings Kal once knew started to grow distant.

Kal couldn't find the strength to talk anymore as he felt himself being pulled to the ground.

He watched as Claire, Madison, Vale, Maria, Robert, Bogs and Laven waved at him.

Then everything went dark again.

Slowly Kal began to feel some sort of pain.

But at the same time, he felt something soft.

There was a voice somewhere.

No, not just one, several…

What were they saying? Something about Inkopolis Plaza being destroyed. No something about what Kal did. No it was something asked out of concern… Wait maybe those were all separate voices.

"Urghhh." Kal moaned, slowly regaining his senses.

'He's up! He's finally up!"

Kal realized he was lying in a hospital bed.

He groaned and sat up, immediately feeling something hug his head.

"Oh dear, I was so worried."

'_Oh no' _Kal thought, recognising the voice of his mother. _'Please don't let anyone I know see me like this..'_

Kal barely managed to open his eyes.

Both his parents were there, even his grandparents too.

To his dismay, Inker, Neon, Sky and even Lila was present.

He could already see Neon suppressing her urge to point and laugh.

'_Great…'_

Kal took a moment to recall what had happened, then realized he wasn't hurt too bad, perhaps he had only been unconscious for some time.

Actually, it was a weekday, yet his father who is normally at work came here along with his grandparents and they live hours away from Inkopolis.

He concluded that he must have been out for a long time.

Now how to deal with his family of his?

"Mom, dad, what are you both doing here? Isn't today a work day?"

"We heard you had been hospitalized, so we dropped everything and came here as fast as we could. What else?"

'_Gee... are all parents like this?'_ Kal wondered.

"Umm, Ma can you let go of me please? I just woke up and uhh, my head still hurts a bit."

"Oh right! Sorry dear."

'_Please stop calling me that infront of Inker and the others!'_

"Good to see you're finally up." Inker said.

"Yeah I'm glad, I really wasn't ready to move on. Haha." Kal replied with an awkward smile.

He still didn't know if he just had some strange dream, or if he really was dead for a moment and met all those who had died over the last year.

"It looked really bad there for a while, I mean seriously! I can't believe someone would send a ton of saucers crashing down on Inkopolis Plaza of all places! I didn't care before but I'm starting to hate the Octarian army!" Neon shouted

"Just be glad we are all safe, the Plaza can be fixed. Inklings getting impaled by metal rebars aren't as easy to heal." Sky said.

"Hey wait…. Is that what happened to me?" Kal asked

"Yeah, can't you tell? Well I guess that means the doctors did their jobs well, also you were lucky that it missed anything important. You're doing alot better than some of the others here."

"Others?"

"Those saucers came slamming down all over the Plaza, you remember how many Inklings had been gathered there right?" Inker reminded him

"What about you guys?"

"Oh we're all fine, I saw it coming and got out of the way while warning everyone I could." Inker said.

"And I carried Sky and zipped outta there!" Neon proudly announced.

"For the record I could have easily ran on my own, you know, just saying…" Sky added, probably feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Well you are all good, but we can't say the same about Lynn and the others." Lila said, though it sounded like Vale was the one currently in control.

"Hold on a sec, I thought you went back to the Molluscs of Mercy." Kal asked

"I snuck out again when I heard my Splatoon arrived."

"Can you please let Lila come back for a bit?"

"I am Lila."

"No not that.. You know… switch so that Lila takes over… or uhh."

"Whatever do you mean?" Lila said, with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

'You know what, forget it." Kal wished he could go back and prevent Vale from ever laying a hand on Lila.

"Excuse me, I would like to speak with my son in private for a bit." Kal's mother asked the others.

"Oh, sure thing Mrs Kogia, come on guys." Inker replied, leading Neon, Sky and Lila out of the room.

Once they were gone, Kal noticed the stern expression on his mother's face.

"Now dear, I hope you have a good reason for going to Octo Valley without even telling us first."

"Come on, I told you all the fresh squids live on their own… Wait how did you know about Octo Valley?"

"Your friends explained everything while you were unconscious. Now I want you to understand that there are some things you just shouldn't get involved with! I understand being squidnapped that first time! But you had no reason to go back!"

As Kal was wondering how he should reply, an Inkling dressed in a doctor's coat came walking in.

"Oh sorry, is this a bad time? I heard the patient was up so I came to do a checkup to make sure everything was healed properly."

"Oh no worries doctor, we can come back later." Kal's father said.

Kal let loose a sigh of relief as he watched his family leave.

"Alright now Mr Kogia, I'm just here to make sure you're….."

Kal tuned out the doctor's words, and just nodded and did what he was told.

His mind focused on one thing, the TV, quietly broadcasting what was happening in the Plaza.

Inklings were enraged by the destruction of the Plaza, and since many of them had already befriended the New Octopolis army, they were demanding that the Inkopolis government do something to defend their country.

The camera work was shakey when the reporters tried to approach the blockade, but from what Kal saw, Inklings were voicing their opinions on how the Octarian army clearly wasn't going to stop at just defeating the New Octopolis army and that Inkopolis should defend itself.

They had been repeating this all over the news today.

Kal wondered if that strange dream he saw, was the result of his mind somehow hearing both the news and Inker and his friends explaining things to his family, maybe what he heard was transformed into speech for the ghosts he saw.

Still unable to decide what happened earlier, Kal focused on the events in the background.

For what it looked like, the IPD were having a tough time keeping things under control.

It was only for a moment, but Kal saw what appeared to be the Octarian army in Inkopolis Plaza.

There seemed to be some sort of battle between them and the New Octopolis army, it looked like Victoria and the others were holding out well but they were completely surrounded and outnumbered.

Suddenly Kal felt that odd sense of foreboding festering within him once again.

For some reason it was gone earlier, but it was back now

Everytime Kal thought that Victoria might be in trouble, that feeling came back.

He didn't understand why before, but now he did.

Maybe it was that strange dream making him finally feel useful, or maybe it was Neon finally making him realize his feelings for Victoria, but he could begin to understand why he felt this way.

It happened every time he saw his friends out there fighting without him. Every time he felt that someone he cared about was in danger and he wasn't doing anything to help.

This meant he had to get to the Plaza A.S.A.P.

"Umm sorry doc, but how long is this going to take?" Kal asked urgently, interrupting the doctor mid speech.

"Well it shouldn't take long, just a quick check of your wounds and vitals should suffice. It won't be longer than ten minutes. Anyways aside from the light tissue burns, we had to stitch a portion of your abdomen back together so ..."

Kal tuned out the doctor again as he thought about what could possibly be happening in the Plaza.

Victoria was never to type to admit she needed assistance, but Kal had gotten used to that, he knew Victoria's limits and knew she would probably feel angered by the initial reception from the local Inklings.

Despite this Victoria probably would have demanded aid.

If the Inklings were still out there protesting it meant that the Inkopolis government still refused to help.

Kal wondered what he could possibly do in this situation.

He wasn't an Agent like Inker, he wasn't super talented like Neon, he didn't have Sky's ability to translate Octarian nor did he have the memory and will of an Octarian captain in his head like Lila.

He was just: Kalus Kogia, an Inkling you could find anywhere in Inkopolis.

But that was just fine.

Like Vale and Maria had said, Kal was more relatable to the average Inkling than any of his friends.

He was someone who was usually more relaxed, who wanted to look fresh, who was a fan of the squid sisters and who loved ink battles.

Right now, maybe that was exactly who he needed to be.

The ten minutes the doctor spent checking Kal's condition was the longest ten minutes of his life.

As soon as the doctor told him he was good to leave, Kal surged from his hospital bed.

He picked up his gear and weapon set which had been put aside in the room and checked it for damages.

The Ink tank had some holes in it, a chuck of his Slosher was chipped away and his bombs was nowhere to be found.

As for the clothes he couldn't find his Black Anchor Tee, as it had been tossed out due to how badly it had been damaged, instead he was wearing a basic tee on him now, probably a temporary replacement from the hospital.

His headgear and shoes were in working order, and had even been cleaned by the hospital staff.

This would do, after all what Kal was planning to do wasn't going to need much gear from him.

When he left his room, he left in a hurry, quickly thanking and saying goodbye to the doctor as he went past his family and friends who were waiting outside.

Seeing Kal in such a hurry, Inker, Neon, Sky and Lila followed him and matched his pace.

"Kal, where are you going?" Inker asked

"Where else? To the Plaza of course."

"Look I know Victoria' is in a tight spot, but there isn't anything we can do here."

"Yes there is, just follow my lead… actually Inker you should probably go get Callie and Marie and tell Cuttlefish to have Arcus try to get help for the Octarians."

"Uhh okay I got it, but what are you going to do?"

"I'll figure it out when I get there."

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

The Octarian civil war was on the verge of ending.

Victoria, tired from all this fighting, looked at what must have been the entire Octarian army gathered around the manhole to Inkopolis.

She and what remained could barely fight off the army, when suddenly Octavia and told the army to pull back.

She was up to something, Octavia had tricked her before, she might do the same now.

"Whatever happens do not leave your positions! The moment you step out there is the moment you die!" Victoria told her troops.

She assumed Octavia was pulling back as a feint, to try and lure the New Octopolis army out of defensive positions and catch them out in the open.

But that didn't work given how close the manhole was to Booyah Base.

"Well now, why don't you give up already? Or better yet, why not step out and fight!" one Elite shouted.

Victoria immediately understood Octavia's intentions.

She was indeed trying to draw out the remaining rebels.

"No matter what happens, don't move." Victoria ordered.

"Yes I get it, I won't lash out at a time like this." Eliza assured her.

The Elite was soon joined by more Elite Octolings.

"Still not coming out? How shameful! Weren't you supposed to be soldiers? What happened to your Octarian spirit?"

'_Those taunts aren't going to work, idiot.'_ Victoria thought.

"Well now, if there is no fight left in you, maybe there's some left in them."

One of the Elite's held up the injured Lynn.

Another held up Kevin.

One by one, the Elite Octolings held up the injured Octarians that Victoria wasn't able to bring to safety.

Victoria gasped, now she felt even more ashamed of herself, for trying to use her injured companions to shame Inkopolis into helping them, instead of immediately assuming the army was coming and bringing them to safety.

Victoria silently apologized, and steeled herself.

She thought that the Elite's were going to put on a show by executing their wounded in front of them to drive them out.

But she was wrong.

The Elite Octolings weren't that merciful.

The one who held Lynn observed her wounds for a brief moment.

Lynn, who could only open one eye, looked fearfully at the Elite.

The Elite eyed hte pieces of debris lodged in Lynn's skin, then with one finger she twisted and pushed the bits of metal even further into Lynn's body.

"Gahhhh!"

The Elite pushed until both the bits metal and her finger was dug into Lynn's flesh, then she wiggled and twisted her finger about, expanding her cuts even further.

"AHHHHHH!" Lynn cried in agony.

Beside them, the other Elites set to work on brutalizing the wounded Octarians.

"nononoNO!NO!STOP!" That was Kevin, who's wing was almost completely detached from his body, one Elite was holding him down as another tugged on his injured wing.

It looked like his wing would be ripped clean off any moment now, the massive Kevin struggled but in his current condition he was too weak to put up any noticeable bit of resistance.

All of the New Octopolis Octarians who had been injured earlier, were put through even more excruciating pain, as the Elite Octolings put on a show by opening their wounds, peeling their skin and digging into cuts.

Victoria looked on helplessly.

She wanted to run out there and help those who were suffering, but she knew the moment she stepped out there, the New Octopolis army would end.

She looked to her remaining troops and the non combattants on their side.

Eliza and the soldiers were exerting a strong killing aura, every one of them couldn't stand to see their comrades treated in such a way.

Even some of the non combattants looked ready to charge into the Octarian army.

But that was exactly what they could not do.

They would break instantly if they went on the offensive when already at such a disadvantage.

'_How long would this last?'_ Victoria wondered '_How long before someone finally snaps?'_

"YOU BASTARDS!" Someone shouted

Victoria immediately looked to the source of the voice, expecting to see one of her troops finally lose it and rush out.

But the shout didn't come from any of her Octarians, it came from the IPD blockade.

"You destroy Inkopolis Plaza! then you torture your own kind?! Have you no shame!"

'_Is that Kal?'_ Victoria wondered

After hearing that, more Inklings began to shout.

"Yeah! Keep that stuff outta Inkopolis!"

"You're gonna pay for destroying the Plaza!"

"Is bullying weaker Octarians all you can do!?"

The IPD immediately tried to calm the Inklings down.

"Hey stop it, this does not involve us."

"They destroyed the Plaza! You think they'll stop there!?"

"That could have been accidental, we are not certain."

"Accidental my foot! Aren't you supposed to protect Inkopolis?! Go out there and stop them!"

"I'm afraid none of us can do that."

"You have a spawn point right there! Just go!"

"We will not! The prime minister will not allow it!"

As things were going nowhere between the IPD and the local Inklings, both the Octarian army and Victoria's group were distracted for a brief moment.

But when they saw that nobody was doing anything other than shouting, they ignored them.

Victoria however saw someone struggling to get past the blockade.

"Forget the IPD! We have our own weapons! We can fight for ourselves!" That sounded like Kal.

Victoria saw bits of red as Kal struggled to get past the IPD.

When that didn't work however, Kal backed up to try again, however this time Neon grabbed him.

"Don't worry Kal, I got this."

As the IPD was distracted with stopping Kal from crossing, Neon had slipped one of her squid beakons over the blockade.

With one strong jump, Neon flew up and over the IPD and while midair, she tossed Kal past the blockade.

Kal landed with a thump, it took a moment for him to realize where he was.

Finally, when he saw the Elite Octolings glancing over in confusion as he heard the voices of other angry Inklings behind him, Kal knew what he should do.

'_The first step is always the most difficult, but once somebody takes that step, the rest comes naturally'_

He still wasn't sure if that was a dream, or if he actually met the ghosts of the past.

But that didn't matter, the words he heard were clear as crystal.

'_If nobody else is going to help the New Octopolis army. Then I'll do it! I'll take the first step!'_

His updated Slosher set no longer featured an Inkstrike as a special.

Instead it featured a weapon he had never used before. As he activated his special, Kal suddenly found himself welding two oversized missile launchers.

A large circle appeared before his eyes and locked on to five Elite Octolings who stood motionless, confused by this weird turn of events.

Finally, the two missile launchers made a quick 'beep' sound as they released a flurry of homing missiles towards the sky.

The Elite Octolings didn't know what this weapon was, but considering it was a missile of some sort, they naturally assumed it would deal splash damage.

So instead of trying to shield themselves with the wounded Octarians, they scattered as the missiles chased them down.

And then it happened, with Kal being the first one to attack the Octarian army, the other Inklings began to realize they could just do the same.

"Oh right! I completely forgot I have a Splattershot!"

"Come on we've played turf all the time! Let's put that experience to good use!"

"YEAH! Follow that guy! Make them pay!"

As the IPD raised their shields and formed a wall to prevent Inklings from passing, they were unable to stop the literal wave of various turf war players as they charged into the remains of Inkopolis Plaza.

Sure the Turf lobby was moved to Inkopolis Square, but this Plaza was home to many sweet memories they made over the years.

Plus in this utopia of a city, they had never seen anyone demonstrate such cruelty in public like the Elite Octolings.

In their eyes, all they saw were the most evil beings they had ever met, who had destroyed a part of their city.

"Oh… my goodness…" Victoria muttered as she saw hundreds of thousands of Inklings climb over each other to get past the blockade and engage the Octarian army in combat.

Inklings of all colours and sizes came pouring towards the army, the Elite Octolings who had scrambled earlier, no longer had the time to focus on Victoria or the injured such as Lynn.

"Hey! This violates the earlier agreement! If you attack us we will not hesitate to fight back!" one Elite Octoling shouted

"What agreement?!" The random Inklings of Inkopolis had no idea what kind of deal the prime minister had made, so they attacked without relent.

"These Inklings…. Fine then! It's war! War again!"

The Elite Octoling directed the rest of the Octarian army to fight the wave of Inklings.

"There's so many of them…" One Octotrooper muttered.

"Don't be afraid of some Inkling mob! Remember your training and stay calm! Besides we were going to take over Inkopolis at some point, might as well start now!" Octavia declared.

"Stand fast! Let them come to us! We are going to cull the Inklings! Inkopolis won't have much of a population after today!" an Elite shouted as she rallied her soldiers.

Victoria watched as a mob of Inklings came crashing down upon Octavia and the Octarian army like a tidal wave.

* * *

**Parliament building, Inkopolis**

Defense minister Arcus once again found himself among the ministers, sitting around a large table, quickly discussing the turn of events.

Some believed this was going to be the start of a second great turf war, while others were still certain that they could salvage the situation somehow.

Arcus however simply wanted to be granted permission to aid the New Octopolis army as Cap'n Cuttlefish would have.

So when he had the chance, he told prime minister Steenson exactly what he wanted to do.

"Sir, now that the Octarian army is fighting our own people, I really don't see a reason in keeping the IPD neutral, they may not have been trained for battle, but their duty is to serve and protect, so they should-"

Steenson cut him off "This again? I will not allow it, while things do seem bad I believe we should continue to not act out."

"What good will that do?" Another minister asked

"Well, as long as we denounce the Inklings who are acting out, we can still prove to Octo Valley our desire to remain neutral."

"I can't believe you would do such a thing. Those Inklings out there are only fighting because they believe it is right." Arcus said

"Just because they think it's right doesn't make it right! I am tired of explaining this to you Arcus! I will not risk a mistake with the elections coming up soon! We all wish to make Inkopolis a better place! So no matter what we will not interfere in this matter!" Steenson scolded Arcus.

Arcus had heard this every time he suggested that Inkopolis help the New Octopolis army.

For a moment he felt defeated but then he noticed a pattern in what Steenson was saying.

This time, he was the one getting angry.

Arcus pounded the table! "That's what you're worried about!? The cod damn elections!? There's a war out on the streets! Inklings were hospitalized by Octarian saucers and Inkopolis Plaza has even been destroyed! And you're here sitting on your hands cause you're afraid of losing an election!?"

"That's enough! I won't have any member of this cabinet risk a mistake only months before the election!"

"I would rather risk making a mistake and lose the election, than be remembered for doing absolutely nothing!"

Arcus would not relent now, he sat back before, but now things were too urgent for him to obey Steenson's stupid policy.

"Actually, I feel the same way." Another minister added.

"Thank you Harting."

"So do I."

"I agree with Arcus, it's about time we at least try to step in."

Steenson looked at the various ministers who began to align themselves with Arcus.

He couldn't allow his cabinet to divide itself.

With no other choice Steenson said "Fine then, do as you see fit… But mark my words you will take full responsibility for anything that follows!"

This didn't bother Arcus one bit. "Sir, I wouldn't have it any other way."

Arcus immediately left to phone the chief of the IPD.

"Let everyone through, we are done with staying neutral, have your men set up more spawn points near the Plaza and get those wounded rebel Octarians out of harm's way!"

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

As the IPD officers stopped trying to prevent Inklings from entering Inkopolis Plaza, the Octarian army found itself under even more pressure as there was now nothing between them and the Inklings.

Kal, having already been splatted a few times, kept going right back to the plaza as soon as he respawned.

Meanwhile Neon had let herself loose, she was having the time of her life jumping around and splatting dozens of Octarians as she used her E-Liter from great range behind the other closer ranged Inklings.

Even Sky had reluctantly joined the fight, doing what he could with his Roller, though he was constantly getting splatted by both sides.

As for Lila, who had no weapon, stood by, muttering to herself as she switched between her usual self and the bit of Vale left within.

"What in the world did Kal do?" Inker said as he finally made it to Inkopolis Plaza.

He was now dressed in his Hero suit.

"Agent 3! You've finally made it! I don't get what's happening but Kal keeps running in and…. Kal made an example of himself which prompted the other Inklings to stand against Octavia… Emily! Stop doing that! It's rude to just cut me off!"

'_We should probably take Lila to a doctor sometime.'_ Inker thought.

Behind Inker were two other Inklings.

"Well we are here now, we would have been here earlier if someone hadn't decided to pack up her Hero suit early!"

"What can I say? I'm an early bird! I didn't know I'd need my hero suit today! Hey aren't you that Inkling on Huetube who shut down the Vanguard movement?"

Callie and Marie looked at Lila with curiosity, since they had been so focused with the upcoming end of their careers at Inkopolis News, they didn't know what happened to Lila.

"It's complicated, but you're looking at both that Inkling girl and an Octarian captain at the same time." Inker told them

"Huh?" Both Squid Sisters went.

"Hey I'll explain later, right now we should go help Victoria and the New Octopolis army."

"New Octopolis?"

"Oh right, you missed that too. Whatever, just help me out."

Before Inker could leave though, he felt a tug on his sleeve.

It was Lila "Wait, umm Emily wants to say something…. Agent 3, you see Lynn and those others laying there, I have to ask for your help in getting them to safety. I'd go myself but well, I'm not me anymore."

Inker looked to where Lila was pointing and saw the injured Octarians lying on the floor like discarded wrappers after the Elites had turned their attention to the Inklings.

"Okay I got it, leave it to us!"

As Kal, Neon, Sky and a whole bunch of other Inklings continually threw themselves at the Octarian army, Inker and the Squid Sisters helped the IPD retrieve Lynn, Kevin and all the other wounded Octarians.

Midway through Victoria called over to him from within the rubble of Booyah Base.

"Inker, we have some wounded in here too, I know Inkopolis can care for them better, so do you mind taking them with you too?"

"No problem, that's why I'm here." Inker replied.

"Thanks a lot. Violet! Where are those wounded? Get them over here so Agent 3 can take them to safety!"

"A-agent 3?!"

"Come on! You've seen him plenty of times by now! Just get over here! Actually you should go with him in case Inkopolis doesn't know how to treat Octarians!."

"Uhh.. Okay! I'll do it!"

Like that, Lynn, Kevin and all the other injured Octarians in the Plaza were also accepted into Inkopolis hospitals, the IPD along with the New Squidbeak Splatoon helped move them away from the fighting behind the spawn points in Inkopolis Plaza as convoys of ambulances began to arrive and take them away.

Meanwhile the Octarian army was beginning to wear out.

They were barely losing anyone to the Inklings, but no matter how many Inklings they splatted they just wouldn't stop coming.

"How are there still so many!? We must have splatted an entire city' worth of Inklings by now!" One Octocopter shouted.

"I don't get it either, but we can't give up now! Think of how happy Octavio and the Acting Leader will be once we win here." an Octoling told her flying friend.

"That's great and all, but my fingers are starting to get tired..."

"It's only been two hours! Get over it!" Octavia shouted as she heard complaints.

Hearing this the troops immediately shut up and continued splatting Inklings.

They were probably taking down around 40 Inklings with every Octarian they lost, but still they were somehow still coming.

The other Elite Octolings were beginning to get suspicious.

"Acting Leader, this isn't going anywhere, I say we split the army up, one group deals with the New Octopolis insurgents and the other holds back the Inklings. Or maybe some of us could break formation to try and find out why these Inklings are coming non stop."

"What are you suggesting? This is our moment of triumph. Look! my fellow Elites, look at how inferior the Inklings are compared to us!" Seeing so many Inklings being splatted was ecstasy for Octavia.

"uhhhh... Yes it is indeed a marvelous sight…"

The Elite quietly backed away from Octavia and gathered the other nearby Elite Octolings.

"This isn't going anywhere, I have a feeling that we are being tricked."

"Did you tell the Acting Leader?"

"Who else would I go to? The Acting Leader is too caught up with what still looks like our fight."

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

".. I'm not sure, but if we are to serve the real Octarian cause we can't stay here."

"What about the Acting Leader?"

"Forget her, what's important now is that we save what we can, so that our real leader Octavio still has something to lead when he returns."

Silently, all the Elite Octolings slipped out of Inkopolis Plaza, leaving the army and Octavia to fend for themselves.

The battle continued for over another hour.

Once they had brought every wounded Octarian to safety, the New Squidbeak Splatoon joined the fight, blending in easily with the massive amount of Inklings present.

They were also joined by Kal, Neon and Sky.

Kal did his best with his damaged Slosher, while Inker helped him out with expert handling of his Hero Shot.

As for Neon she found herself joined by Marie as the two Charger users made their way to higher ground and began to support their friends.

Callie led the way with her Hero Roller, Sky who also used a Roller, observed Callie closely and tried to mimic her way of fighting.

The IPD officers joined the fight too, they wielded N-ZAP '85s along with the riot shields they were previously using to block Inklings to form a slowly advancing wall.

This combined with the fact that other Inklings slowly catching on to each type of Octarian's strengths and weaknesses slowly turned the tide of battle.

One by one the Octarian army began to fall, as they could not possibly win against an infinitely respawning enemy

As for Acting Leader Octavia, she finally snapped back to reality.

She was taking so much pleasure in beating the Inklings for a hatred so old she could barely remember it's origin.

Now Octavia began to panic.

She turned to her officers; the other Elite Octolings only to find that they were gone.

"What the!? Where did they go? Those traitors! Did they leave me behind?!"

She looked back towards the Inklings, who were getting closer and closer as they were finally beginning to break the Octarian lines.

"Tch, this isn't over, I won't lose here!"

Octavia too, ran from the Plaza heading back into the manhole and into Octo Valley.

Victoria and the New Octopolis army, watching from their defensive positions noticed Octavia retreat.

Her exit went unnoticed among the Octarian army for only a few brief moments.

"Acting Leader! We can't hold for much longer, the Inklings are actually…. !? Acting Leader!? The Acting Leader is gone!" Someone noticed

"Did she get splatted?"

"No she was just here, wait all the other Elites and gone too!"

"What? Then what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know!"

"Uhh the Inklings are still coming! They look very unhappy.."

"E-everyone for themselves!"

As the Octarian army realized it was abandonned and leaderless, it quickly fell into chaos.

Some tried to fight, but most of them gave up and ran for their lives.

And since they were no longer defending themselves in one big group, there were plenty of openings to reach the manhole.

"You men! Get over there and don't let any Inkling pass!" an IPD officer said as he pointed to the manhole.

The Inklings could not respawn in Octo Valley, so the IPD's first priority was to not let anyone enter Octo Valley.

Now that the Octarians were no longer defending it, they could secure it and lock it down.

As for the other Inklings, they were still angry over the destruction of Inkopolis Plaza and the torture of the New Octopolis army.

They ran after the fleeing Octarians.

"Ha!" One Inkling tackled a fleeing Octotrooper off his hovercraft.

"There we go! Not so tough now are ya!" He had several others began to beat the Octotrooper.

Nearby, an Octoling from Octavia's army found herself wrestling with another Inkling before a second drop kicked her to the ground, the Octoling then found herself being kicked while down.

"This is for Shrimp Kicks! And Cooler Heads! And Jelly Fresh!" One Inkling named the shops of the destroyed Booyah base as she and her friends beat down another Octoling.

"Noo! Stop! It wasn't me! I was just following orders!"

Inker, Kal, Neon and Sky watched.

However before long Victoria ran up to them.

"Hey! I know they are technically our enemy, but don't just let your people treat them like that!" she shouted to Kal and the others.

"Oh right, uhh should I send them to you then?"

"I don't think…" Victoria pondered for a moment, the Octarian army had lost the will to fight, so she was in a place to take some prisoners.

Besides, they weren't Octavia and the Elites, they weren't the ones making choices, they just followed orders.

"Sure, send them our way."

As Inker, and his friends, along with the New Squidbeak Splatoon started to stop the hot tempered Inklings from hurting the remaining Octarians, Victoria went over to the IPD and told them to do the same.

"You heard her! Fan out and find every Octarian left in Inkopolis! I want them all taken in safely and shown merciful treatment." the leader of the officers ordered.

Following these orders, a group of officers went over to the Octoling getting curb stomped by Inklings and pulled the Inklings off her, then one officer helped the Octoling back up while his partner shielded him from anymore Inklings who were still a bit angry.

The shaken and bruised Octoling immediately thanked the officer. "Ahh… Th.. thank you very much… I was just following orders… I don't have anything against you… Honest."

"I get it, now show me your hands."

The Octoling complied and the officer cuffed her "We are going to hand you over to the New Octopolis army, don't worry. I guarantee you that you won't be treated poorly."

"Ahh that's fine… I..I understand."

Inker and company had a bit more difficulty since they lacked the IPD's authority.

"Would you stop that already!"

"Get your hands off me! Can't you see I'm busy!"

"That's exactly what i'm talking about stop smacking that Octoball!"

"If I stop he'll roll away again! Let me give him a good kick!"

"Would you just calm down for a moment!"

As Inker argued with another Inkling, Neon and Sky went over to the little Octoball who was just being stomped on by said Inkling a moment ago before Inker pulled the Inkling away.

Since Sky was the only one who could speak Octarian he assured the Octoball that he would be safe if he just handed himself over to the New Octopolis army.

Neon who seemed to stick by Sky's side much more often now, simply gave a reassuring smile to the Octoball, who then accompanied Neon and Sky to help a group of Octotroopers.

This time Neon tried to pull the other Inklings away and began a fistfight until Marie and an IPD officer broke it up.

"Aww, but I was winning!" Neon complained

Meanwhile Sky led the Octoball and a bunch of Octotroopers to Victoria, where they were taken prisoner.

Inker and Kal went to help another Octoling who was cowering in an alleyway.

"Eeep! A-Agent 3!" the Octoling shouted

"Calm down, I'm not going to-" Inker began before he was cut off

"I'll do whatever you ask, just don't hurt me!"

"Uhh, maybe you should let me handle this?" Kal suggested

"You sure?"

"Yes I'm sure." Kal had gotten used to dealing with Octarians who still believed the Agent 3 rumors by now.

"Uhh okay then."

Not soon after, Victoria, Eliza and the remainder of the New Octopolis army prepared to head back to Octo Valley.

They had rounded up as much Octarians as they could and were now going to head back to the Undercity.

"Wait, you're all leaving just like that?" Kal asked

"Yeah, of course. "Eliza said.

Victoria looked at Kal, who seemed to have had expectations crushed

"I know you have things to say, but we aren't done yet, I saw Octavia run back to Octo Valley and we haven't found any of the Elite Octolings, I bet they are heading back to the undercity."

"But then why?"

"They are weak at the moment we can't let this chance slip." Victoria turned to Inker and the New Squidbeak Splatoon. "Give Inkopolis my thanks, we'll meet again soon."

"The IPD has things handled here, I think we'd all want to go with you." Inker said. "Right guys?"

"Of course! I mean we got the big boss waiting for us right! This is going to be fun!" Neon shouted

"You have a very twisted definition of 'fun' you know… But well, I guess I don't mind coming along." Sky said

"No no you should stay here, be our mission control or something like before!" Neon suggested

"Hoho! Well as long as the equipment in my house is all fine, we'll be right on it!" said Cuttlefish.

"Oh good, gramps is getting his shack back, that means we can stop drawing straws to figure out who he gets to bunk with." Marie commented

"I'm just curious, is it really because of bad luck that I always draw the shorter straw?" Callie asked her cousin.

"Still can't stand the Cap'n's snores? So I guess you'll be helping us secure Octo Valley?" Inker asked.

"Of course!"

"And don't leave me behind!... Ah sorry recently Emily's been having outbursts like that." Lila said.

"Well if she's the one in charge I guess it will be safe for you to tag along." Inker said.

Finally Inker looked to Kal, who was more than eager to go.

"I want to see this through, I'm in!"

* * *

**Nautilus base, Octo Valley**

Octavia hurried through the Undercity, trying to pick up whatever bits of the Octarian army had been left behind.

To her surprise the Undercity seemed empty, so she hurried to Nautilus base hoping she could find the other Elite Octolings.

But even the main base of the Octarian army was empty.

Judging from the number of weapons, documents, fake zapfish and power eggs left behind, Octavia concluded that it had been hastily evacuated, it was the only reason to leave so much behind.

This wasn't good for her, she quickly checked all available Octarian channels requesting an explanation on why Octo Valley was so empty.

When she got no reply, she genuinely believed she was in trouble, possibly for the first time in years.

She was alone in the abandoned Nautilus base, there were no Octarians left for her to command.

She quickly checked every surveillance camera in the Valley, whoever evacuated the place had done so in such a hurry that the whole Valley still had power.

All that was left were the Octarians who supported Victoria and the New Octopolis army who were locked up in prisons all over the Valley.

Anyone who could possibly still be loyal to Octavia was gone.

Still going through the camera's she noticed Victoria, leading the New Octopolis army back to the Undercity.

She was coming to end her rule.

"No no no NO! I won't lose control! I won't!"

Octavia wondered what could have happened, then she recalled Octo Canyon, maybe the valley was finally deemed uninhabitable and they all moved there? But that wouldn't explain the rushed evacuation.

Octavia tried to contact anyone in Octo Canyon, to no avail.

'_There should be at least someone there, why aren't they answering?'_

The lights flickered as Octo Valley almost had another blackout.

A great sense of dread washed over Octavia.

She could see Victoria and the New Octopolis army reach the prisons of the Undercity, gaining more numbers as they discovered that a lot of their soldiers and supporters had not been killed, but rather taken prisoner when the Reserve army cut them off.

With nothing left, Octavia nabbed all the fake zapfish and power eggs she could carry and made a break for another lair.

_'If I can start the Octobot King, maybe I can escape to the Canyon!'_

Octavia bolted to what used to be Octavio's boss kettle.

Unfortunately for her, she didn't know that Cuttlefish and Sky were watching the Octarian CCTV cameras.

Tracking Octavia through the valley was Inker, Kal, Victoria, Neon, Lila and the Squid sisters.

Eliza had been left back in the Undercity to sweep for any remnants of the Octarian army and free the imprisoned members of what would soon become New Octopolis.

Octavia ran with all her might to the Octobot king, she crammed everything she could into the compartment designed for the great zapfish and hopped into the DJ booth/pilot seat.

"Alright, come on now, I've seen you run for Octavio dozens of times, don't fail me now, don't!"

The Octobot King struggled to take flight, it eventually managed to hover, but not nearly as gracefully as before.

Octavia could see Agent 3 and his friends arriving.

They stopped when they saw the Octobot King.

"Haha! My era isn't over yet!" Octavia cackled as she fired one of the Octobot's fists at the group.

"Whoaho! That's quite a mechanical monstrosity she has there!" Neon exclaimed

"Why do you sound happy?" Marie asked

"You'll get used to it." Sky said over her headset.

"It's the Octobot King, but it shouldn't be able to run without a power source great enough…" Victoria said.

"Can you beat that thing?" Kal asked

"Well we've beaten it once before.'' Inker shrugged as he fired at the fist flying towards them.

Slowly the first turned blue and was sent flying back at Octavia.

And since Octavia didn't have the correct power source for the Octobot, this one hit was all it could take.

The fist slammed into the Octobot, which then immediately began to make loud mechanical noises.

"Huh?" Came the quietest voice Octavia had ever made.

The Octobot sputtered in flight and collapsed into the ground.

Inside, a speechless Octavia sat with her hands still on the controls.

"...Wait… That's it? I was expecting more of a fight! I didn't even get to do anything! I want a redo!" Neon protested.

"Hey be a bit more serious, remember we still have to catch Octavia." Victoria reminded Neon.

"Yeah yeah, well I guess I already had my fun earlier…"

Victoria steadily approached the Octobot, knowing that an Elite like Octavia could still put up a decent fight.

But with three Agents, a combat freak, a little girl with the mind of a captain and the Inkling she loved standing by her side, she was not going to lose.

Octavia however had no more fight left in her.

She sat motionless even as Victoria and her friends all held their weapons towards her.

She didn't even turn to look at them.

"...It's over, isn't it?" She asked.

"Yes and you lost, now let go of the controls and come quietly." Victoria said.

"..."

Octavia looked down at her hands.

What was there left for her?

"I will not. Nothing you say can change that. I feel as if the moment I let go, I'll be letting go of everything I had built." she said

Victoria shrugged, then raised her Blaster.

"Hey hold on a second." Inker said, stopping Victoria "You know, it's not all your fault, from what I've heard, DJ Octavio had his goals and hatreds stamped into the minds of every Elite Octoling. So your rule wasn't real."

Victoria didn't know what Inker was trying to do. Did he think that everyone could be saved?

"It was real to me…" Octavia muttered.

"And that's why you lost." came a voice Octavia hadn't heard before.

"Hey don't get too close Lila." Kal said.

"I'm not Lila." Lila said, as she moved forward and sat on top of the DJ booth in front of Octavia.

Octavia looked at this little Inkling, she looked oddly familiar.

However the expression on this little girl's face didn't match the rest of her body.

Lila sat with a wry smile on her face.

"What did I tell you? The Elites aren't loyal to you and the others only followed you out of fear."

That sounded familiar and it pissed her off. Octavia glared daggers into this little girl who didn't seem phased in the slightest.

Lila had a smug look on her face as she laughed and said "I told you they would rise up against you someday. I'm glad I got a front row seat watching it all go down."

Octavia realized why this little girl ticked her off so much.

"Vale… So you've come to torment me after killing yourself?"

It was Lila sitting in front of her, but the one talking was Captain Vale.

"I'm just enjoying the show."

"You.. Why did you turn against me? I was doing great as Acting Leader! I was going to take Inkopolis!"

"You still think that? Man that's almost sad… I've warned you over and over, I pointed out flaws in your plans but you wouldn't listen, I knew someone like you was doomed to fail, so I left. I bet all the other Elite Octolings realized the same thing."

"... Well I've lost, so nothing I say now matters…"

Although she said that calmly Octavia felt more riled up than ever.

The old hatreds of Octavio and the new hatreds she had discovered for Emily Vale and Victoria festered within her.

Plus she wasn't the type to accept life as a failed leader.

"You done Vale? Well then, I'll say it one more time let go of the controls and-" Victoria

In one swift movement Octavia leapt from the Octobot controls, leaving a Splat bomb behind as everyone else scrambled for cover.

Octavia took out her Octoshot and held a second Splat bomb in her hands, she turned to face her enemies…

Before she was splatted by ink of various colours.

Bright magenta from Victoria's Blaster

Red from Kal's Slosher.

Bright green from Neon's E-Liter

And blue from Inker's Hero Shot.

Like that Octavia was gone.

Victoria had nothing against splatting her, as it was Octavia's orders that got her family killed.

Kal as well, was captured and beaten under Octavia's orders.

Neon on the other hand probably just acted on instinct, as did Inker.

The group stared at the puddle of mixed Ink that had been Octavia just seconds ago.

Victoria half expected Octavia to jump right back out, but no, it was over. It was over all the way back in Inkopolis, Octavia only delayed the inevitable by a little while.

"It's done, come on now Holter. Let's see how the rest of the Valley is doing." Lila said, still in Captain Vale's personality.

"I should never have let you have Lila." Kal muttered.

Lila stood for a moment, possibly reverting between personalities for a bit before she said. "You know eventually I'll forget a lot of the things I saw and heard at this age. So in a few years, Lila will be completely on her own again…. Wait really? But Emily I thought you were going to leave me!... It is inevitable sadly. After all, I'm dead, this is just some memory I left behind…. But I'm going to miss you… I know, but you won't need me by then, so can you at least tell your Inkling friend to let me stay like this for a while longer?... Okay, Kal please learn to get along with Emily, she won't be here forever."

It seemed like Lila had gotten attached to the imaginary Captain Vale in her head.

Kal sighed "Oh well, I guess it can't be helped."

* * *

**Undercity, Octo Valley**

Upon their return Victoria found that Eliza and the New Octopolis army had freed everyone imprisoned for supporting them.

"You know there are a lot more survivors than I thought." Eliza commented as she and Victoria watched the big bunches of Octarians, young and old, who had chosen to leave Octavio's government.

It was less than half of what showed up back when she first announced the New Octopolis army, but it was still a lot.

Many of them had been cut off from their main base and captured when Octavia brought in the Reserve army, but it seems like they were left behind.

To find out what happened, Victoria had her soldiers go through everything they could to figure out what happened, while the rest settled back in the dilapidated Undercity.

Eventually they discovered that the Elite Octolings had abandonned the fight in Inkopolis and hastily moved everyone still loyal to Octavio out of Octo Valley and to Octo Canyon.

It appears as if the Elites had given up on Octavia the moment she lost focus.

As Vale predicted, they were never loyal to Octavia, but to Octavio's wishes.

They would carry on the DJ's old hatreds for years to come.

But for now, there were Octarians who were ready to put that behind.

Most of them didn't even know why they hated Inklings to begin with.

While an opposing Octarian faction was still out there, they wouldn't do much now that Inkopolis had started supporting New Octopolis.

After they figured out what had happened, Victoria gathered everyone she could.

"Good work everyone, Octavia is gone, the Octarian army is on the run and we've managed to leave a good impression on Inkopolis." She said. "Now then, this is pretty much all I can do, the task of rebuilding will lie in your hands."

"Hey what are you saying? We need you to lead our new nation!" someone shouted

"Yes that's true! You can retire on us yet, we still need to fix the Undercity and create a just government."

Victoria didn't know anything about those.

"I'm flattered you think this way.. I really am, but I'm just a soldier and a rookie one at that."

"Maybe, but you were the one who led us to this victory." Eliza pointed out "Come on Captain, don't retire just yet."

"I'm not! I'm just saying I'm not suited for this! I mean come on! I'm one of the youngest here!"

"That doesn't matter, I'm sure you'd be a great leader… No wait that sounds too much like Octavio…. Hey 3 What do Inklings call their leader?"

"A prime minister." Inker replied

"Well then, who here wants the captain to become the first prime minister of New Octopolis!?"

"B-but I know nothing about politics!"

Despite this Victoria was met by thousands of raised hands.

Victoria didn't know much about politics but neither did any other Octarian at this point because Octavio had been the only Octarian leader for the past hundred years.

"It looks like a unanimous vote." Eliza said

"Wait hold on! There must be someone better! I... I just wanted to be a soldier." She glanced around for anyone she could push the role onto, but it seemed like everyone was dead set on keeping her as the leader.

"No I just can't! Gahh!" Victoria bolted.

Eliza and the other Octarians watched Victoria run.

"You know, you guys are piling an awful lot of responsibility on Victoria." Kal said.

"It only feels right, I mean she did create the New Octopolis army, so it's it normal for her to lead it to the end?" Eliza said.

"Well, I get that but, Victoria is just completely overwhelmed…. You know what, give me a moment, I'll be back."

Kal left in the direction Victoria ran, he found not too far away, with her head pressed against a wall.

"I thought it was finally over… Why do I keep getting dragged into these things…. Ummm Kal, what should I do?..." Victoria asked.

"Well they are kinda right you know, you can't just leave when there is still so much to do."

"... Who's side are you on?"

"Hey don't forget, you said you wanted to make Octo Valley a better place when you were younger."

"Yeah, by destroying Inklings. That was just the dreams of a kid who looked up to soldiers! This whole leadership business is just… not for me!"

"You know I still remember hearing you talk about Octo Valley back then. You said that you wanted to be a soldier because of how bad conditions were. Well now you really have a chance to improve things! Show everyone that Octarians don't have to live in blackouts or builds with cracked walls."

Victoria sighed "I know.. I know, but just, why me?"

"I don't know anyone better."

"How can I do this?"

"I don't know." Kal shrugged "but I do know that the first step to anything is going to be most difficult, it was the same for me when I fired at the Elite Octolings earlier and it's going to be the same for you."

"... I guess."

"Go on, you don't have to lead Octo Valley forever, just get things going, make the first step and the rest will come naturally. And if things don't go well, the door to Inkopolis is always open for you, I'll make sure of it."

That was the same thing Kal said to Victoria the first time they parted ways.

"Alright then.. I guess I have to give it a shot…"

"Go for it, I'll be back in Inkopolis cheering you on."

As Victoria and Kal started to return to the others Victoria suddenly remembered.

"Wait did you forget our promise? After the Octarian Army is defeated I was going to hear your feeli-"

Kal, not wanting a repeat of his loud and embarrassing announcement quickly interrupted Victoria "Let's leave that for later."

"What? Did you change your mind?"

"Never in a million years… I just.. Well I think I could take some time and make it better…"

"Okay, I just wanted to be sure… Don't ever forget… promise?"

"Promise."

Victoria and Kal returned to where Inker, Eliza and hundreds of other free Octarians were waiting.

Victoria walked back to the front, standing in between Eliza and Inker, she looked at Kal one last time.

Kal gave her a nod.

She sighed, then looked to the soldiers and supporters of New Octopolis. "Well then I guess I'll stay by your side! Let us rebuild Octo Valley in our name. We have lots of work to do…. And I have much to learn.."

* * *

**Inkopolis Plaza**

Upon return to the Plaza it seemed that things had died down.

There was no longer any sign of the IPD or emergency services.

Though Inkopolis Plaza was still destroyed, some Inklings were still around, talking over what happened.

Callie and Marie, who had managed to accompany the four for this last trip to Octo Valley said goodbye not long after.

"We should get going! We have new careers and new paths just waiting for us!" Callie said.

"Goodbye Agent 3 and friends." Marie waved.

"Goodbye!" Inker, Kalus, Neon and Sky at the two celebrities, still disguised by their Hero suits.

"Well that settles it! All's well that ends well! But Kal, are you sure you don't want to stay in Octo Valley?" Neon asked

"What can I say, Inkopolis is for me and Octo Valley is for Victoria, I don't see that changing anytime soon."

"But aren't you worried that-"

"The only thing I'm worried about is Lila, why did she choose to stay behind in the Undercity?"

"Well that was probably Vale's doing, though I think it would be best if Lila stayed behind, I know you don't seem to like Vale much, but she is still a good leader, Victoria is in good hands." Inker said.

"I thought it would be Victoria taking care of her…"

The four friends wandered about in the ruined Plaza.

They walked into Booyah Base, where Victoria and the New Octopolis army had taken shelter just hours ago.

"This used to be Cooler Heads, right?" Sky asked as they stood among the rubble.

"Yep, I hope they rebuild this place soon, along with the rest of Inkopolis Plaza." Inker replied.

"Hey, it's not fun to grovel you know! The sun's almost down and we haven't had anything to eat in a while! So let's do just that!" Neon suggested.

"Yeah dinner sounds good, just don't dress up like some high class lady again." Sky said

"I told you not to mention that!"

"Then don't do it in the first place! You troublesome girl!"

Looking around, Kal noticed that somebody had parked a yellow food truck by the Plaza. It had 'Crust Bucket' written in Inkling on the side.

"Hey that's Crusty Sean isn't it?"

He could vaguely recall Callie and Marie mentioning that the former shoe shop owner was changing professions.

"Oh it is! Well I'm glad to see the destruction of Shrimp Kicks isn't affecting him." Inker said.

"Hey let's not waste time! What's he got on the menu!?"

After Neon rushed over to the truck, the four friends bought some 'seanwiches' then they left the Plaza searching for a place to sit.

Along the way they could hear Inklings still talking about the Octarians they had seen.

"Those New Octopolis Octolings all had matching hairstyles too!"

"Yeah I wish I could have asked them how to make my hair look like that!"

"Hey did you know they're making Octoling armor replicas?"

"Wait really!? I gotta check that out!"

It seemed like Octarians were not seen in such a negative light anymore.

Neon nudged Kal "Hear all that? I bet Inkopolis would love having Victoria around."

"Well even if I tried I doubt I could get her to stay."

"So you're letting her go again? This is the second time!"

"When you say it like that, you make it sound like I'm abandonning her."

"Yeah! You should chase after her with all your might!"

"Uhh no, I Victoria and I will go at our own pace thank you."

Inker laughed "I still can't believe Neon was right all this time about you two. How did I not see it?"

"You probably missed more than you know." Kal replied

Then they noticed Neon, resting her head on Sky's shoulder.

Sky for some reason, didn't look displeased at all.

"Huh? Wait a second, what is this?" Inker asked

"Oh didn't you know? I'm dating Neon." Sky said

"Wait… what…"

"I'm dating Neon."

"What the!? When did this happen?!" Inker exclaimed

"During the final splatfest, didn't Neon tell you? Neon didn't you tell him?" Sky asked

"I was err a teeny bit distracted, I mean it WAS the Final Splatfest."

"I can't believe it…"

"Hey I was as shocked as you when I found out." Kal added

"I mean those two are…"

"... complete opposites?"

"Yeah."

Neon looked at Inker, who was still surprised by the sudden revelation.

A wry smile crept to her face as she came to the realization that Inker was the only one amongst them who had yet to have a relationship.

"Wahahaha! Jealous?! Don't worry Agent left on the shelf! There are plenty of squid in the sea!"

"Gahhh! What did you just call me?! That better not be my nickname from now on! Hey seriously! You know I'm actually pretty close with the other Agents!"

"You mean Callie and Marie? Get real, they are way outta your league, Agent left on the shelf."

Kal chuckled seeing Neon discover a new hobby of teasing Inker.

Finally as the sun set on this eventful day Kal wondered how long it would be before he met Victoria again...


	47. Epilogue

With Acting Leader Octavia gone and the Octarian army backing out of Octo Valley, the Octarian civil war ended.

Inkopolis Plaza, which had been destroyed by the Octarian army, was eventually rebuilt and restored.

Unfortunately by then, Inkopolis Square, serving as the main hub for ink battles, had gained much more popularity in the time it took to rebuild the Plaza.

In the end Inkopolis Square's Deca Tower took over the role of serving as the main Turf Wars lobby.

Thanks to Defense Minister Arcus Hilgendorf's actions, he and the rest of the cabinet members managed to get re-elected and thus would maintain their position for another four years.

Lynn, Kevin and the other wounded Octarians were saved thanks to Inkopolis' medical care, with some guidance by Violet. Eventually all of them returned to Octo Valley.

Not long after, what was previously known as the Undercity had been renamed New Octopolis, this new Octarian society immediately began friendly negotiations with Inkopolis for support in rebuilding their decaying city.

Eventually a deal was made, New Octopolis was loaned some zapfish to repair their city as well as respawn points just in case they needed to fight back the Octarian army again...

* * *

**Inkopolis Square.**

It had been just over a year since Kal last saw Victoria.

Not too much had changed with him, he was still playing turf wars all the time, though now he was also taking the time to study and someday become an ambassador for Inkopolis, just like he said he would.

He had also started part timing at Grizzco to pay for those studies.

He saw Sky and Neon pretty often, Neon was still doing nothing but ranked matches and was as great as always.

Sky on the other hand, was the first Inkling in decades to learn the Octarian language, since he was never too good at Turf Wars he instead started tutoring Inklings in how to speak Octarian.

As for Inker, he constantly travelled between New Octopolis and Inkopolis, keeping an eye on this when he could.

He watched Octo Valley being rebuilt with Inkling support, soon New Octopolis became a bright, clean and safe underground city for Octarians, he felt that his goal of reuniting the two races had finally been accomplished.

Time to head home.

Back in Inkopolis Kal considered travelling to New Octopolis on several occasions, but figured that Victoria had things under control.

However today as he roamed the square, something caught Kal's eye.

Getting a closer look, he saw what appeared to be some Inklings talking with an Octoling.

"Hey that hairstyle looks kinda familiar…" One Inkling said

"Ah r-really?"

"Yeah I feel like I've seen it before... Oh well it doesn't matter. Say how are you at turf? My friends and I are looking for a fourth and you look fresh enough, think you can keep up with us?"

"Uhh.. sure! I'll do my best!"

Kal watched the group enter the Deca Tower.

'_That was an Octoling… wasn't it?' Kal wondered._

Looking around he saw similar scenes around him.

Octolings, though they looked slightly nervous, they appeared to be getting along with the local Inklings.

There was even one entering the Inkopolis News studio.

"Umm P-Pearlie… Are you sure about this? I-I mean… What if they don't like me?"

"Come on Marina, we've made it this far already, don't chicken out now!"

A small pale Inkling was pushing an Octoling into the studio.

Maybe they were here to auction and hopefully become the new hosts?

'_No wait.. Why are there Octolings here all of a sudden? Why didn't I hear anything about it?'_ Kal wondered

He didn't recall any mention of Octolings moving to Inkopolis.

_'Wait if there are Octolings here.. Could that mean?'_

Kal looked around hopefully.

If there were Octolings here, he hoped he could see that one specific Octoling, that one who once broke into his home and used him, but then later would help rescue him from Melanin prison.

No luck.

For a while, Kal could not see the face he had been longing to see.

Only for a while.

"So you were here… I can't believe I wasted so much time looking for you in the Plaza."

Standing only a few feet behind him, was Victoria.

Kal was overjoyed to see her again, not a moment later the two found themselves wrapped in each other's arms.

When they finally stopped, Victoria looked at him expectantly.

"Well?"

"What?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten…"

"Oh right, but umm can go somewhere else first?" Kal asked

"Well I've already spent a year waiting…"

"Let's just step away from the Square, this is kinda embarrassing."

"Yet you were able to shout it in front of the entire New Octopolis army last time."

"Please don't remind me.." Kal said, getting a bit red faced over those memories.

As the two started leaving the Square together, Kal had to ask about the Octolings he saw earlier.

"Hey I could have sworn I saw some other Octolings hanging out in the Square, what's with that?"

"Hmm? Well… some of us wanted to live in Inkopolis, but well we were busy with other things, so nobody managed to get permission to live here until now."

"So Inkopolis is going to become a mixed city of squids and octos."

"Just like you and Inker wanted."

"So what have you been up to this past year?"

"What else? Everyone wanted me to be president of New Octopolis so I had to quickly learn anything I could about running a nation… Luckily I had some help."

"President?"

"Yeah, we figured it was a more humble title compared to 'Leader' or 'Prime Minister'. It's like the president of a local club or committee, a modest title."

"Heh, I guess you've been pretty busy, how long do you have before you have to go back too, presidenting or whatever?"

"Oh I quit already."

"What?"

"I quit after my first year, that position was never meant for me to begin with, now I'm just a soldier in the New Octopolis army again."

"Still leading Vale's splatoon?"

"Nah, Lynn's doing that now, I mean Vale did say she'd lead that splatoon someday. By the way Lynn's been looking after Lila, she treats her like a little sister but every now and then Lila starts acting like Captain Vale and Lynn immediately becomes nervous around her, it's pretty fun to see. Eliza is still around as well, but after seeing Inker fight up close she is now obsessed with training all the new recruits to his level."

"Well what about you?"

"Me? I'm back to my original rank, I'm going to properly work my way up."

"That's so you."

"Yeah... Hey wait a second! Are you trying to distract me with other things?"

"No I'm just curious…"

"Well we are far enough from the Square now right? Come on, stop being such a wuss! Tell me what you think about me!" Victoria said.

Kal chuckled nervously, and scratched the back of his head shyly, averting his gaze.

"... You'd think after a year I'd be ready to say it but…"

"Aw come on, how hard could it be?"

"Alright fine!" Kal took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Once again he assured himself everything would be okay.

He already heard Victoria's confession, there was nothing to worry about. "I uhh.. I think you always put on a tough front, so at first you seemed unapproachable, but then later I found out you have a much sweeter and softer side... I don't know why, but I find that a bit adorable…. I know that's probably not how you'd like to be described, but well… That's what I think… yeah that's it!"

Victoria smiled

"Was that so tough?"

"Not at all."

"Eeeee" Both Victoria and Kal heard someone make a strange sound just around the corner.

"What was that? A shriek?" Kal wondered

"It sounded more like a squeal… Who's back there?!" Victoria said, her voice changing to the commanding tone she used back when she led the New Octopolis Army.

Victoria and Kal hurried around the corner and saw Neon, Sky and Inker.

Neon was covering her mouth.

"Why are you all here?!" Kal exclaimed

"I heard Victoria would be dropping by today, but when I told Neon she suggested we hang back and watch you two from a distance.. Sorry.." Inker explained

"Neon huh… I'm not surprised." Victoria remarked.

Neon, who squealed when she heard Kal confess to Victoria, quickly tried to cover up her actions.

"Hey! Nevermind that! Isn't this great? We are all back together! Come on this calls for celebration! And that means ink battles!"

"Strange way to celebrate if you ask me…" Sky commented

Inker, Kal and Victoria all agreed

"Ahh but this is Inkopolis! And when you think of Inkopolis you think of ink battles! Come on! Why not give it a go?" Neon continued.

"Well I guess it can't be that bad… sure I'll give it a try." Victoria said

"Perfect! Sky you'll have to sit out, k?"

"Why is that?" Victoria asked

"We can only have four guys in a squad."

"Four… so it's going to be a four on four battle…. Oh wait I have an idea! Meet me at the Deca tower! I'll be right back!" Victoria said.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Kal shouted after her

"Don't worry I'll be back in a flash! Just wait for me in the tower!"

* * *

Not long after Kal and his friends arrived at the Deca Tower, Victoria came back, this time she had company.

"No need to leave anyone out! If it has to be four on four, we can have a friendly battle between Inkopolis vs New Octopolis!" Victoria said,

She had brought, Lynn, Eliza and Lila with her.

"Kal!" Lila said, running forward and giving Kal a big hug.

From what it looked like, Lila was in her normal personality at the moment.

Lynn glanced around, she looked just slightly nervous.

As for Eliza she once again glared at Inker.

"Alright! This is great! Everyone is here! Let's not waste any more time! Get this show on the road!" Neon cheered.

"Hey wait! Shouldn't explain to Lynn and Eliza what we are even doing?" Sky said

"They'll figure it out!"

"Well from what I understand, this is like a battle simulation that Inklings do to pass the time right?" Eliza said.

"See! They know already! Come on! Let's get started!"

"U-umm wait, I still don't understand how this lobby works." Lynn said.

"Just stand in the private battle lobby as a squad, then you'll be sent to a spawn point on one of the maps." Inker explained

"Ahh I get it, so we stand in here?" Victoria asked, pointing at a room with a spawn point drawn on the floor.

"Yes that's it, We'll be in the adjacent room. Well good luck guys!" Kal said

"Good luck to you too!" Victoria said. "Don't think we'll go easy on you!"

"I won't!"

* * *

**Blackbelly Skatepark, Inkopolis**

Inker, Kalus, Neon and Sky appeared on one end of the map, now green.

Victoria, Lynn, Eliza and Lila appeared on the other, now pink.

"I hope this isn't permanent…" Eliza muttered

"Don't worry! Everyone goes back to normal once the match ends." Lila explained

"Oh.. Well then, this is a battle right? Then leave Agent 3 to me!" Eliza declared.

"I'll uhh, I'll watch your back!" Lynn said

"Emily, do you think you can…. Of course, just sit back and watch, I'll show you the skill of an Octarian captain!… Okay then! I'll be counting on you!" Lila said to herself, letting Vale once again take control of her actions.

"I thought things would go a bit differently… oh well, Kal and I have plenty of time. A little ink battle wouldn't hurt." Victoria muttered.

"BOOYAH!" Came a voice across the map.

Squinting her eyes, Victoria could see a now green Kal waving at her across the map.

"Booyah? Does that mean start?" Victoria wondered

"It's just fun to say, don't just stand there! Booyah back!" Lila urged "like this; Booyah!"

"Umm okay then…"

Victoria cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted

"BOOYAH!"

Kal heard this loud and clear, he smiled seeing Victoria waved back at him.

"Hey! I bet you're feeling lovey dovey today right? That better not hold us back!" Neon shouted

"Don't worry, I'm always up for turf!" Kal assured her.

"Alright then! Sky you stay close to me okay? Otherwise you are going to get splatted WAY to much!"

"I'm not that bad! I mean sure I don't play nearly as much as you guys, but I can handle myself!" Sky protested.

Meanwhile, Inker prepared his Splattershot Pro "I bet Eliza's coming right for me, so I'll go right, you guys do whatever you want." he said.

"I wanna see if Lila really can fight like Vale! Cause that would be awesome!" Neon exclaimed

As for Kal

"I'm just glad Victoria is here again."

Their short intermission was over, the map was clean and ready for their match.

A blimp flew above the center of the map, on it was a big screen which got the attention of both sides as it would soon signal the start.

"Ready? GO!"

The two sides enjoyed a friendly battle.

Not just here, but all over Inkopolis, Octarians were accepted into Inkopolis and found themselves immersed into the joy of Turf Wars against other Inklings.

Any hatreds left over from the past had faded away.

And so ends our story, Splatoon: Old Hatreds

* * *

**A/N: **So yeah' it's finally over. It's been a long ride, sometimes it felt like I would never reach an ending, but everything has to come to an end eventually.

I really enjoyed writing life into these characters, having them go through ups and downs, some making sacrifices others slowly becoming attracted to one another… It was pretty fun.

I guess now would be a good time to mention that I have actually never played any Splatoon game before. I still can't believe that a fanfic recommendation would end up getting me hooked onto Splatoon lore and eventually creating this fanfic of my own... Well actually Behind Enemy Lines came first and this is a sequel to that but who cares.

Sometimes I was worried that I wasn't doing such a good job writing, but you guys were always there telling me otherwise.

I'm glad I spent the time to write this, I'm glad could get these ideas out of my head and give you guys something to enjoy.

Thank you for reading Splatoon: Old Hatreds, a Splatoon 1 fanfic by Obliterwrite.

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"Why did you call us here?"

"S-sorry but we had no other choice! The Octarian army has already stolen plans for Rollers, Blasters and worst of all, Spawn Points!"

"I see."

"hmm.. Cap'n, you were saying that Octavio might have been freed, maybe that has something to do with this?"

"I-I know it's a lot to ask, but umm, Agent 3, Cap'n Cuttlefish, can you please stay at Nautilus base for a few days? If the Octarian army comes again you'll be our best shot at catching them!"

"Well… I guess I don't have anything better to do. Don't worry Lynn, you can count on us."

That night the Octarian army struck again.

"Ahh! The Octarian army is here! Up and at em Agent 3, the Octarian army is here again! sic em!"

"Got it!"

"We're right behind you Agent 3!"

Inker and a team of New Octopolis Octolings chased after the intruder.

Whoever it was, was pretty good at their job.

Inker tossed a Seeker and swam after it, catching up to the octarian interloper.

Soon he could see them clearly, one single Octoling, her outfit was different than usual Octarian army Octolings, the ink tank she wore looked far more advanced and even though she appeared to be wearing heels she was outrunning Inker and the other Octolings.

_'She's fast!'_

Inker ducked as the Octoling tossed a splat bomb at him, he slowed down, jumped out of his ink and out of it's radius.

It had been a near perfect toss, if Inker hadn't slowed down, he would have been caught dead center in that blast.

Whoever this Octoling was, she was good.

Inker followed the Octoling as she reached the Undercity, now known as New Octopolis.

He shouted at it's Octarian citizens to get off the streets as he chased the Octoling down the roads.

The Octoling did everything to shake him off her tail, tossing back bombs and sometimes even tossing civilians into Inker's way.

"Look up and smile Agent 3! It's the New Octopolis airborne!" Inker heard someone shout into his headset.

Above him, an Octarian saucer flew past, lowering altitude in front of the Octoling revealing Cap'n Cuttlefish and a bunch of Octosnipers perched on top of it, their chargers ready to fire at the intruder.

Seeing this the Octoling changed her course.

She ran back out of New Octopolis, but not in the direction of Octo Canyon.

"Stop right there and disarm yourself! This is your last warning!" the saucer's pilot shouted.

The Octoling however didn't stop.

Though she had to find a way to lose that saucer chasing her.

Inker saw her quickly pull off some planks on an abandoned subway entrance and hop inside.

"She went in there! Come on! We can't lose her!"

"Agent 3 wait!"

"Huh?"

Inker stopped, both the Octolings and the Octarians on the saucer refused to go any further.

"What's wrong?" Inker asked

"T-that's the Deepsea Metro… Octarians who go there never return, in fact they become zombies of the deep." One Octoling explained

She was trembling and wouldn't get any closer to the abandoned entrance.

"So wait, we are just letting her go?"

"If she went down there, it would be safe to assume she'll never come back out. Whatever she took from us is lost, let's return to Nautilus."

"We can't just assume that! I'm going down there and making sure that Octoling never reaches Octo Canyon! Are any of you with me?"

None of the Octarians moved

"S-sorry but I'm not ready to die yet."

"Me neither."

"Is it really that bad?"

The Octarians all nodded.

Inker looked at the abandoned subway entrance.

It did look a bit creepy, but that's probably because it looked abandoned.

If he did get splatted, his Hero Suit could save him.

"I'm going in."

"Good choice bucko! No urban myth is stopping us!" Cuttlefish said as he descended from the saucer.

"Thanks for the lift Kevin, but it's nigh time I dust off my land legs."

The Octarians all looked at Cuttlefish and Inker as they entered the Deepsea Metro.

"Is anyone going to stop them?" someone asked

"No way! I'm not getting anywhere close to that cursed place!" another replied.

"Great…. Now how are we going to report this to Captain Radars?"

(I just wanted to make a little intro to the Octo Expansion using Old Hatreds characters, I'm not actually going to write a story on that, sorry if it got your hopes up.)


	48. Extras From the Valley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I was bored this past week as all my classes have been turned into online courses or have just ended, so with not much to do, I reread my story and realized the epilogue only took part in Inkopolis. So I decided to write a few extra scenes which takes place before Victoria returns in the epilogue in order to show how the others were doing in Octo Valley.

<strike></strike> **One year before epilogue.**

As the Octarians who were no longer living under Octavio's rule settled down in Octo Valley once again, those that had fought as part of the New Octopolis army knew that they had to prepare themselves in case the Elite Octolings and the Octarian army came back to bring them back in line with Octavio.

Older army veterans were brought back into the army to either take up a commanding role or train some new soldiers, while those who had already fought the Octarian army kept their roles.

The citizens who had hidden from the Elite Octolings while they evacuated the valley, or those who had been imprisoned for supporting the New Octopolis army all had their own parts to play in rebuilding the valley.

As for Nautilus base it was now the main headquarters for the New Octopolis army.

"Good evening Captain" One Octoling greeted Lynn as she and Lila passed by.

The Octoling then took note of Lila and looked a bit confused, she didn't expect to see an Inkling here, and definitely not one so young.

"Uhh, are you babysitting for someone?"

"Huh?" Lynn was lost for a moment, then she followed the Octoling's eyes back down to Lila.

'_Ahh that's right, not everyone knows that Vale is in there.'_

After Octavia had been defeated, Lila had chosen to stay in Octo Valley.

It wasn't Vale making the choice, it was Lila herself.

She didn't really have much in Inkopolis to begin with, but in Octo Valley Captain Vale had a place, thus Lila could somehow fit in.

Most of the original members of Vale's splatoon were aware of how their captain had implanted a part of herself into Lila in order to get back at Octavia, but to many of the new members of the New Octopolis army, Lila was just a normal little purple Inkling.

"Oh y-you're mistaken, this is Captain Vale."

The Octoling still didn't understand "Huh? Umm, are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine." Lynn insisted

"Perhaps we should go to the infirmary."

"I'm not sick!"

"Then maybe some coffee."

"I'm not drunk either! Li-Captain! Why aren'y you saying anything? Don't just leave me hanging here!"

Lila giggled as Lynn struggled to explain to this new Octoling how Lila was also what remains of Emily Vale. "No, I'm good, this is far too entertaining…. Umm Lynn looks troubled, maybe we should…. Really? Well I guess we've had our fun. Alright then, yes in a way, I am Captain Vale." Lila began speaking to herself again as she and Vale swapped back and forth.

"Huh?" Things still hadn't cleared up for the Octoling.

It was strange seeing Lynn walking around the Nautilus base with a little Inkling in tow, but seeing the Inkling speak to herself then claim to be Captain Vale was even weirder.

"Lynn isn't crazy, I am Captain Vale in a way. It's difficult to explain, but there were certain circumstances that put my splatoon in danger. So I did what I could to make this Inkling follow my goals and serve in my place. The real me is dead of course. I hope this clears things up."

"It doesn't! Ahh." the Octoling covered her mouth as she forgot that she wasn't supposed to behave in such a way to her superiors. "Forgive me for speaking out of line, but that still doesn't make any sense to me."

"Well I can't say I blame you, as much as Octavio and the other Elite Octolings made constant use of mind conditioning, the method I used to end up in this state was completely new and previously untried."

"Mind conditioning… Well I still have a long way to go before I even touch that subject, but to be honest I don't really like the sound of it…" the Octoling muttered.

"You don't have to like something to learn it, just don't make use of it unless you find yourself in a pinch."

"Ahh, I see. Well it was nice meeting you Captain Vale." The Octoling satuted both Lila and Lynn before hurrying off, still somewhat confused.

Seeing the Octoling wander off bewildered Lynn wondered "What is that new method of mind conditioning you were so eager to try out even back in Melanin prison?"

"You really want to know?" Lila's voice suddenly grew solemn

"W-what's with that expression?"

"Do you really want to know? What I have done could be known as my life's work you know. Since it's worked so well, it's dangerous, I can't tell you unless you promise to take it to your grave, even if Octavio captures you and tortures you for that information."

"Wh-wha, Captain! everything you just said is way too heavy!"

"Well there's no helping it, we are both captain's now so I guess I can tell you. It all began when I took an interest in the so-called 'split personality disorder'."

"No stop! I'm not interested anymore!" Lynn quickly clasped her hands over her ears.

Once again Lila laughed "Oh I'm just joking, It's not that serious, sure it's an original method of mine, but I doubt it's something that would get Octavio's attention from whatever hole he's hiding in."

"Captain, what's wrong with you? Why are you so mischievous today?" Lynn complained

"Hmm? I don't know, maybe it's because everything has finally settled down and we are no longer constantly preparing for war. Or maybe it's just the Inkling side of me taking over, after all Lila will eventually go back to normal."

Saying this Lila had a very peaceful look in her eyes.

Well technically it was Vale making that expression.

As a former Elite Octoling, who had been trained for battle and had seen nothing but conflict since her entry into the army, this new peacetime must have been very refreshing.

"Well anyways, you're pretty much my successor at this point, so if there's anything you want to know I'll be glad to teach you, just don't wait too long, otherwise I'll fade away." Lila said, still in Vale's personality.

"T-thank you captain, but maybe not today…"

"Hah! Did I really shake you up that much? You're a captain too now, just like I was. You should steel yourself a bit more."

"Uhh yeah I'll do that."

Lynn never did go through what Vale had in order to reach her rank, now she could somewhat understand why Victoria wanted to leave her position and go back to her original third class trooper rank.

Leaving Lila to herself, Lynn continued on through the base.

Even though it was a time of peace, some patrols said they noticed the Octarian army snooping around the borders.

Of course, the New Octopolis army wasn't going to let their hard earned freedom be taken away.

While some saw peace as a more quiet and relaxing time, others saw it simply as time to prepare for the next conflict.

To match the Octarian army, New Octopolis needed new recruits, said recruits were being trained by various Octolings who had volunteered to do so.

As the Octarians of Nautilus base went about their day, Lynn happened across a new group of said trainees.

For a moment she thought she might spot Victoria in that group, as she had really wanted to rejoin the army. No wait that wasn't right, Victoria had already passed training once before, there was no reason for her to be in that group.

"Alright listen up!" a familiar sounding recruit instructor shouted.

In her hands was a picture of Agent 3, small enough to be held in one hand, but large enough to be seen by all the recruits.

"Many of you know who this is, Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. You may all know him as an ally, but let me remind you he has fought and defeated countless Octolings like yourselves! No scratch that, Octoling more experienced and trained than yourselves! You know what this means?"

There were a few confused murmurs among the recruits.

"It means you'll have to be better than them, we can't defend the valley if one Inkling can mop the floor with you all! So I better not see any slackers! Go give me fifty laps around the track! Move it!"

The drill instructor shouting commands at the new recruits was none other than Eliza.

Curious as to how she was training these newcomers, Lynn decided to stand by and observe a little.

Lynn watched as Eliza put the recruits through rigorous exercise.

"Too slow! Agent 3 would have lapped you by now! Pick it up!" Eliza shouted.

After those warm ups, Eliza instructed the recruits in fieldcraft and marksmanship.

Of course she didn't make it easy on them either.

"Do you really think hiding in a little puddle in the middle of an open space is good camouflage!? The Octarian army would spot you easily with their goggles! Even Agent 3 could spot you without any aid!"

"Good shooting… If your target was a barn! Stop jerking the trigger! If you miss you'll be splatted in three shots! Just like everyone else who fought Agent 3!"

Agent 3 was mentioned constantly by Eliza.

At one point Lynn wasn't sure if the recruits Eliza was training were meant to defend the valley or splat Agent 3. Maybe she was using him as an example for the new recruits to follow, but Agent 3 was mentioned incredibly often when Eliza trained the recruits.

Later on, Lynn met Eliza in the mess hall.

"Hey Eliza, I saw your training earlier today."

'Really? If you had the time, why not come introduce yourself? Set an example for all those green recruits."

"Nah, I think Agent 3 is a good enough example already. You seem to mention him all the time."

"Well of course, he did beat DJ Octavio before, if only other Octolings could get to his level…"

"Hey be honest now, you don't hate Agent 3 anymore."

Eliza immediately denied it "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on! Why can't you admit it? None of the Inklings are as bad as they seem once you get to know them." Lynn pressed on

"I agree with that, but don't misunderstand that for me taking a liking to Agent 3."

"Nobody else brings up Agent 3 as much as you do, I'd find it odd if you really still hate him."

"I'd find it more odd if I somehow started getting along with him after he killed my sister. Look, I recognise his skill, that's why I bring him up so often. If every Octoling could fight as well as he could, we would have overthrown Octavia in a day. Of course, that doesn't mean i have stopped hating him."

Lynn could see Eliza tense up as she went on, it seemed like Eliza never would get over the whole incident with Elieen and Agent 3.

"I-I see, I won't bring it up again."

"Yeah don't."

In the end Eliza was simply being more rational and not allowing her grudge against Agent 3 get in the way of things again. With Agent 3 as an example, Eliza set out to train the new Octolings to be even better soldiers than the previous generation.

But even if Lynn never brought up the subject of forgiving Agent 3 to Eliza again, there was no way to stop rumors from spreading among the rest of the army, that Eliza had long gotten over her grudge.

A few days later, Lynn would notice other Octolings having a similar conversation and an annoyed Eliza glaring her way with furrowed brows.

"I-it's not my fault! Honest!"

* * *

**Seven months before epilogue**

Some distance away from the undercity, now known as New Octopolis, there was a slab, well it wasn't actually a slab, it was a chuck of wall from a demolished house.

Anyone else who passed by this bit of debris wouldn't give it much thought, but in reality, this was where two Octolings were buried. Specifically, they were Robert and Maria Holter, Victoria's parents who had been burnt to death in their bid to protect Victoria.

Only Violet and Victoria knew about this, however that was about to change.

Violet had been told to take some Octarians and move the remains of Robert and Maria back into the city and place them in a proper resting place.

A memorial for those who had died in the Octarian civil war.

There weren't many bodies to bury as most had been killed by splatting, though some had perished when Octavia sent saucers crashing down on Inkopolis Plaza.

In memory of all, regardless of how they died, a statue was built.

It showed an Octoling soldier, wearing armor and holding an Octoshot in one hand.

At the foot of that statue was a plaque that read "In memory of those who died in darkness, so others could see light." a phrase with both literal and metaphorical meaning to the New Octopolis Octarians.

Even if their civil war hadn't lasted very long, it had cost a lot of lives, all those who could be identified had their names carved into the ground, all who were buried had tombstones, all who could not be identified would be represented by the statue.

Finally, on Victoria's request, Violet moved the remains of Maria and Robert to a grave in said memorial.

It was thanks to them that Victoria could live on to lead the New Octopolis Army when Vale died, so she felt that they deserved a place in the memorial.

Violet with a few other Octarians helping, dug up the bodybag containing Robert and Maria, seeing the burnt decomposing remains of two Octoling would churn the stomachs of anyone else, but Violet and the other Octo Valley medical workers had long gotten used to seeing such things.

They moved the remains out of the bag and into a coffin, which was then brought back to the memorial and placed in a grave.

Like Violet had promised, Maria and Robert would now be properly laid to rest.

* * *

**Three hours before epilogue**

Victoria woke up after a day of training, the first one she's had in over a year.

It was tiring, but it felt right. Much better than sitting in an office all day with endless documents being thrown your way, a job like that should go to someone older and more experienced.

Giving up her position as president of New Octopolis and becoming a soldier again felt great. Like this, she was back to being a normal soldier, she would climb the ranks as one normally should, not by sheer chance and not with help from Inklings.

It just felt right, just like what she pictured her life would be years ago.

Well it wasn't completely the same life she had pictured.

First off, her apartment was actually in decent condition and wasn't falling apart like her previous one.

That was thanks to the aid they received from Inkopolis.

Since New Octopolis and Inkopolis were going to be allies, Inkopolis had no reason not to lend them some Zapfish for the sake of reconstruction.

Like that, New Octopolis became a safe place to live.

No more weekly blackouts.

No more constant train derailments and apartments collapsing..

And if you did accidentally get splatted, they had respawn points now.

Octo Valley was now a place you would want to call home..

Of course, many Octarians chose to move to Inkopolis, but those that stayed felt proud of what they had done to the Valley.

They saved it, they did what Octavio claimed could only be done through the annihilation of Inklings.

It was great.

Victoria lay back in her bed until someone rang her doorbell.

Victoria sighed and hurried over to the door.

If this was someone trying to drag her back into politics, she was going to give them an earful.

"H-hello Victoria."

"Violet? What are you doing here?"

Victoria didn't expect to see her former roommate here.

Last time she heard from her, she was still doing fine as a paramedic, though that was months ago.

Why was she suddenly standing here dragging a luggage bag around?

"Sorry for showing up unannounced, but could I stay here for tonight?" Violet asked

"What happened?" Victoria's expression changed to a more serious one, as if she was about to enter battle again.

Violet jumped back a bit at Victoria's sudden change in tone.

"Ahh no! I'm not in danger or anything. It's just that… well… I've lost my job."

Victoria calmed down, she had to get out of that wartime attitude, sure the Octarian army's been poking around their borders, but there was no reason for them to go after Violet.

Since there was no reason to turn her down, Victoria let Violet inside.

"Forgive me for asking, but how did you lose your job? I thought everything was fine on your end."

"Well" Violet awkwardly scratched her head "You know how medical workers were always in high demand back then? Now that the valley is safe and we don't have fatal accidents every day, we don't need as many paramedics, nurses and doctors as before."

"Huh, I guess the new state of the valley isn't the best for everyone."

"Don't say that, if anything it should be good that I'm out of a job, it means everyone is safe."

Victoria shrugged "If you say so… Well I guess you want to stay here for a while until you get back on your feet?"

"Please?"

"Sure, I don't mind, it will be just like before."

"Thank you, I guess I'm lucky that you're still living here after stepping down."

"I'm not moving to Inkopolis anytime soon, I don't want to leave all this behind."

"Well then, I guess we are roommates again."

"Guess so. Actually this is good, look after the place for me tomorrow."

"Huh? Are you going somewhere?"

"Yes of course! I'm going to Inkopolis."

"What? Did you just say you would never move to Inkopolis?"

"I'm not staying there! It's just that, well... It's been over a year since I last saw Kal and the others, it's about time I pay them a visit don't you think?"

Even if Victoria did her best to conceal it, Violet could tell that she had been looking forward to leaving for a long time now.

Victoria was unanimously voted to govern New Octopolis despite not having any knowledge in land management, finance nor politics, it was simply because she was considered a hero.

She hated being in that position because she didn't know what to do and had to quickly study up in order to make New Octopolis prosper.

Finally, once things were stable, Victoria quit and rejoined the army, but that wasn't without problems either.

Some Octarians, like Lynn or Kevin, wanted Victoria to go straight up and take the role of general, which had been Octavia's rank before she became Acting Leader.

Just like with the whole president mess, Victoria just wasn't ready to take such a role.

It took her quite the effort in order to convince everyone that she wanted to move up the ranks properly.

Now that all of that was settled, Victoria could finally have some time to herself.

After all she had done for the valley, nobody would object to her spending a day in Inkopolis.

Violet gave her friend a bright smile, she deserved some time to herself after all she had gone through.

"Well then, don't worry about me. Have fun!"

With her life in Octo Valley finally going back to normal, Victoria left for Inkopolis.


End file.
